SK Hynix Balances Red-Hot Demand Against the Risk of Customer Control as Shares Top 1.97 Million Won

Microsoft, Google, Amazon propose co-financing SK Hynix's EUV lithography systems for preferential HBM3E supply; stock surges 7% to record, up 171% YTD.

SK Hynix shares surged 7% to a fresh record of 1,967,000 South Korean won, capping a stunning rally that has nearly tripled the stock since the start of the year. Behind the milestone sits an extraordinary dynamic: the world’s largest cloud companies are now offering to help pay for the chipmaker’s new fabrication plants in exchange for preferential access to its AI memory output.

Microsoft, Google and Amazon have proposed co-financing the purchase of ASML’s EUV lithography systems, each costing around $400 million, to secure a steady supply of HBM3E high-bandwidth memory. SK Hynix’s management has so far resisted, worried that direct funding from customers could limit future pricing flexibility and create uncomfortable dependencies.

The tension between securing capacity and maintaining independence was on full display today as SK Hynix’s top brass met with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and co-founder Bill Gates at the company’s Redmond headquarters. Microsoft urgently needs HBM3E chips for its Maia 200 AI accelerator and is pushing for long-term supply commitments.

The demand backdrop is staggering. First-quarter revenue jumped 198% year on year while the operating margin hit an eye-popping 72%. Analysts see little respite. Daishin Securities recently raised its price target to 2.5 million won, and KB Securities went even higher with a 40% upward revision to 2.8 million won, citing explosive increases in memory pricing and the insatiable appetite for high-bandwidth memory in AI servers.

Adding to the bullish narrative are unconfirmed reports that SK Hynix is jointly developing new packaging technologies with Intel, potentially using Intel’s EMIB method as a lower-cost and thermally simpler alternative to TSMC’s congested CoWoS process. TSMC’s production bottlenecks have forced customers to seek alternatives, and neither SK Hynix nor Intel has commented on the speculation. The company is also building its own dedicated packaging capacity in the United States and South Korea.

Goldman Sachs warns that the DRAM market could face its most severe undersupply in 15 years by 2026. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has gone further, predicting that wafer shortages could persist into 2030. As long as AI infrastructure spending keeps accelerating, memory manufacturers hold the pricing whip hand.

Shareholders, meantime, are collecting a quarterly dividend of 375 won per share; the ex-date is May 28. The next catalyst lies further out: mass production of the next-generation HBM4 chips is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2026, with designs already being adapted to tighter customer specifications.

The stock has gained 171% since January and 76% in the past month alone. SK Hynix is operating from a position of extraordinary strength, but the very demand that has propelled its shares to record highs also threatens to tie its hands. For now, the company is betting it can keep its options open while the world’s largest tech firms line up to help pay for its next expansion.