SK Hynix Ponders a Wall Street Debut as Record Cash Flows Pile Up

SK Hynix posts record 72% operating margin, targets US listing to close valuation gap with Micron, while HBM4 demand fuels growth.

The numbers coming out of SK Hynix’s first quarter are the kind that make rivals envious and analysts reach for superlatives. An operating profit of roughly 37.6 trillion won, a margin of 72 percent — figures that leave even Nvidia and Google in the dust. Net profit landed at 40.35 trillion won, with a net margin of 77 percent. Revenue crossed the 50 trillion won threshold for the first time. The stock is trading at a 52-week high, having nearly doubled since the start of the year.

But for all the celebration over the quarterly results, the bigger story may be what the South Korean memory chip maker plans to do next: take its shares to the United States.

SK Hynix filed a confidential registration with the SEC in March and is targeting an ADR listing in June or July of this year, either on the NYSE or the Nasdaq. Analysts estimate the offering could raise between $10 billion and $14 billion. The strategic rationale is plain enough — a glaring valuation gap with its American rival Micron Technology. SK Hynix currently trades at roughly 11 times annual earnings. Micron commands 29 times, even though SK Hynix generated about twice the operating profit in the third quarter of 2025.

CEO Kwak Noh-jung has been candid about the ambition: a US listing would allow the company to reset its valuation in the world’s largest equity market. There is also the prospect of inclusion in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which would force passive funds to buy the stock — a structural demand boost.

There is a constraint, however. SK Square, the largest shareholder, holds around 20 percent of the shares and is required by Korean law to maintain that threshold. That limits the room for issuing new stock. The company initially planned to use treasury shares for the ADR but scrapped that idea after criticism. CFO Kim Woo-hyun has confirmed the SEC review is underway, with details to come once finalized.

Meanwhile, the cash machine keeps churning. SK Hynix has pledged to return 50 percent of free cash flow to shareholders this year and next. Last year, that meant 2.1 trillion won in dividends and 12.2 trillion won in buybacks and cancellations. For 2026, market estimates put free cash flow as high as 150 trillion won, which would make those distributions look tiny by comparison. Cash holdings rose 19.4 trillion won from the prior quarter to roughly 54.3 trillion won, while debt fell to 19.3 trillion won.

The engine behind all this is high-bandwidth memory. Demand for the next-generation HBM4 chip is already outstripping SK Hynix’s production capacity for the next three years. Mass production of HBM4E is scheduled for 2027. The company is developing HBM4 in close collaboration with TSMC, using the Taiwanese foundry’s 12-nanometer logic process for the base die.

Looking ahead to the current quarter, management expects DRAM shipments to grow in the high single digits and NAND shipments in the mid-teens. Pricing remains favorable, with DRAM average prices jumping about 65 percent from the prior quarter and NAND prices rising roughly 70 percent despite a dip in volumes. The structural imbalance between supply and demand shows no sign of easing.

Meritz Securities forecasts second-quarter operating profit of 61.4 trillion won, rising to 78.4 trillion won by the fourth quarter. If those projections hold, 2026 will be the year SK Hynix enriches its shareholders like never before — and perhaps wins over a whole new set of them on the other side of the Pacific.