SK Hynix Plots a $67 Billion Output Doubling, but Broadcom's Cloud Casts a 10% Pall Over the Stock

SK Hynix wins Nvidia HBM4 certification but shares drop 10% after Broadcom AI forecast miss sparks rout. Firm outlines capacity expansion, US ADR listing.

SK Hynix clinched a crucial endorsement from Nvidia this week, winning official certification as a supplier of HBM4 memory chips for the upcoming Vera Rubin platform. But by Friday, that milestone was little more than a footnote. Shares in the South Korean memory giant slumped 10% to 2,070,000 won, capping a weekly decline of roughly 11% as a sector-wide rout triggered by an earnings forecast from Broadcom swept through global markets.

The selloff was ignited when Broadcom projected third-quarter AI chip revenue of $16 billion — about $1.2 billion short of consensus estimates. The miss set off a rapid rotation out of semiconductor stocks, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down 10.3%, its steepest single-day loss since March 2020. In Asia, the KOSPI took a direct hit, and trading in equity futures was briefly suspended. Compounding the anxiety, robust US jobs data renewed speculation that the Federal Reserve could hike rates further, a headwind for growth-sensitive chip names.

Against this volatile backdrop, SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won chose the Computex 2026 stage in Taipei to unveil an aggressive expansion blueprint. The company plans to double its monthly wafer output from roughly 550,000 units to 1 million by 2030/2031, supported by $67 billion in capital expenditure between 2024 and 2028. Key projects include the Yongin cluster, where installation of the first plant is now scheduled to begin in February 2027, and the M15X fab in Cheongju, which will start production in the second half of 2026 at 40,000 wafers and scale to 80,000 by 2027.

The capacity push aims to plug a looming shortage of AI memory chips. SK Hynix already commands 58% of the global HBM market, and analysts estimate it will capture 60% to 70% of Nvidia’s HBM4 volume for the Vera Rubin architecture. Goldman Sachs recently raised its 2028 operating profit forecast for the company by 24% to 454 billion won, citing persistent supply constraints in the AI memory segment.

Meanwhile, the company confirmed plans to list American Depositary Receipts in the US later this year, with the offering potentially raising as much as $14 billion. Reports indicate that international investor interest ahead of the listing has been strong.

Despite the weekly rout, the picture over a longer horizon remains striking. SK Hynix shares have surged more than 200% since the start of the year and trade 42% above their 50-day moving average. The relative strength index sits at 59.8 — comfortably below overbought territory. Yet not all analysts are wholly bullish. Some market chatter suggests Nvidia may reduce memory capacity per server rack in its new platform, raising fears about total demand. Hwang Soo-wook of Meritz Securities views the selloff primarily as profit-taking after an extended rally and expects a quiet stretch until second-quarter earnings are released in July.