SK Hynix Delivers Twin Jolt: HBM4E Samples Beat Schedule as Q2 Profits Set to Skyrocket 581%

SK Hynix forecasts 581% profit jump, ships HBM4E samples months early to Nvidia, and restructures supply chain amid historic DRAM shortage.

The stars are aligning for South Korea’s memory chip giant. SK Hynix is racing ahead on two fronts simultaneously—unexpectedly early shipments of its next-generation HBM4E samples and a forecast profit explosion that underscores the voracious appetite for AI memory.

A 581% profit leap and a historic DRAM crunch

Finlit projects the company will post an operating profit of 62.7 trillion won in the second quarter of 2026, a staggering 581% surge year-on-year. The driver is plain: physical AI robots are creating a new class of buyers for high-bandwidth memory, and the supply simply cannot keep up. Goldman Sachs has flagged the most severe DRAM shortage in over a decade, with the gap running at roughly 5%. Analysts now expect HBM prices to double in the coming years, pushing memory chips toward becoming the single largest cost component in AI hardware.

SK Hynix itself confirmed that customer demand continues to outstrip its own delivery capacity. In the first quarter, revenue hit 52.6 trillion won with an operating margin of 72%. The Q2 forecast, if realised, would dwarf that performance.

HBM4E samples land months early

While the profit numbers are eye-popping, the technological catalyst generating immediate buzz is the accelerated timeline for HBM4E. TrendForce reported on June 15 that SK Hynix has achieved positive development results and is close to shipping sample chips to key customers, with DigiTimes corroborating the news a day later. The samples are expected to leave the factory in June or, at the latest, July—far ahead of the market’s original expectation of the second half of 2026.

The first recipient will be Nvidia. HBM4E is destined for the chip designer’s upcoming Rubin-Ultra accelerator, which TrendForce says will boost HBM capacity per GPU to 384 gigabytes. Early sample delivery gives the customer more time for validation, offering a strategic edge in winning mass-production orders.

Samsung Electronics, however, is not waiting. It announced on May 29 that it had already shipped the world’s first 12-layer HBM4E samples to major clients, boasting speeds of up to 16 Gbps and a bandwidth of 3.6 TB/s per stack. SK Hynix’s ability to close that gap will be critical as HBM4 becomes the mainstream product generation expected for 2027.

Supply chain overhaul takes shape

Alongside the product acceleration, SK Hynix is aggressively restructuring its supply chain to reduce dependence on foreign monopolists. KC Tech, a South Korean firm, will supply new cleaning equipment starting in late 2026, a market previously dominated by Tokyo Electron. The first major purchase orders are already flowing into the new Yongin factory.

Infrastructure is also being fortified. A multi-million-euro contract with Air Liquide will see the French company build a nitrogen plant for the Cheongju facility, with production slated to start in late 2027. Almost simultaneously, SK Hynix awarded another equipment deal to Genesem, aiming to secure its in-house HBM packaging technology.

Stock near record high, but risks smoulder

The market has rewarded this momentum. SK Hynix shares closed at 2,288,000 won on Monday and traded at 2,382,000 won on Tuesday, just under 1% below the 52-week high set on June 2. Year-to-date, the stock has more than tripled—up roughly 252% from the start of 2026.

Yet operational hazards linger. Two fires broke out within ten days in June in the gas rooms of the Cheongju plant. Production continues, but experts are investigating possible errors in mixing fluorine and nitrogen. Leadership uncertainty also looms: Chairman Chey Tae-won’s divorce hearing reaches a formal session on June 26, with billions of dollars and his stake in the holding company at stake.

For now, though, the narrative is overwhelmingly positive. TrendForce sees HBM4 as the mainstream generation for 2027, and supply negotiations between memory makers and AI clients are already centring on those allocations. SK Hynix must now prove that its early HBM4E samples will clear customer qualification quickly. If successful, its lead over Samsung in the industry’s most important growth segment could widen—not shrink.