SK Hynix’s 182% Year-to-Date Surge Collides With a 19% Weekly Wipeout

South Korea's SK Hynix suffered a near-10% intraday crash amid US rate-hike fears, but a weekend deal solidifying its role as Nvidia's top HBM4 supplier and a $14B US listing plan underpin long-term AI conviction.

Seoul’s main equity benchmark suffered its worst single-day shock in years on Monday, with the KOSPI briefly plummeting over 8% before a 20-minute circuit breaker halted the rout. For SK Hynix, the crash was even more violent: the stock sank nearly 10% at the open, only to stage a partial recovery after investors digested a weekend announcement that solidified its status as Nvidia’s primary memory partner for the next generation of AI infrastructure.

By the close, however, SK Hynix shares were still nursing a 7.68% loss at 1,911,000 won. The intraday whipsaw — from near 10% down to a point where losses narrowed to around 1.6% — captured the market’s internal tug-of-war between macro fear and AI conviction. The selloff was triggered by unexpectedly strong US jobs data that reignited rate-hike worries, a factor that overwhelmed even the most consequential industry alliance of the year.

Nvidia’s Vera Rubin Pact Locks In SK Hynix as Core HBM Partner

This was no ordinary deal. Jensen Huang flew to South Korea on 8 June to meet SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and jointly announced a multiyear technology partnership. SK Hynix will remain Nvidia’s largest memory supplier, providing custom high-bandwidth memory for the upcoming Vera Rubin platform — a supercomputer architecture that includes Vera CPUs, RTX Spark PCs, and the Jetson Thor robotics system. Volume shipments for HBM4 are scheduled to begin in the third quarter of this year.

The collaboration extends beyond product delivery. SK Hynix plans to integrate Nvidia’s CUDA-X and PhysicsNeMo software into its own chip design and simulation processes. More ambitiously, it will build so-called “fab digital twins” on Nvidia’s Omniverse platform — virtual replicas of its semiconductor factories aimed at achieving fully autonomous operations and boosting yields for the advanced memory that powers hyperscale AI workloads.

Record Earnings and a $14 Billion US Listing Ambition

Underlying the stock’s long-term bull case is a financial performance that dwarfs the near-term volatility. SK Hynix reported an operating profit of 47.2 trillion won in 2025, more than double the prior year’s figure. The company now commands 53% of the HBM market, and analysts estimate it could supply between 60% and 70% of HBM4 volumes for Nvidia’s next architecture from late 2026 onward.

Goldman Sachs reaffirmed a Buy rating in April, lifting its price target to 1.35 million won. The bank cited SK Hynix’s leadership in HBM4 and deep integration with key AI clients as factors that lock in growth for the next two years. NH Investment Securities went further, setting a target of 3.2 million won based on sustained HBM demand and stabilising DRAM spot prices.

Meanwhile, the company is quietly preparing a landmark US listing. Roadshows for a planned American depositary receipt offering have received “extremely positive” feedback, according to sources. The confidential filing could raise up to $14 billion, with the new vehicle targeting a market capitalisation above one trillion dollars. Whether the IPO arrives in 2026 will depend on how quickly the market environment stabilises after Monday’s shock.

Analyst Divide Reflects the Cyclical vs Structural Debate

Despite the year-to-date gain of over 182%, the weekly loss of roughly 19% underscores the lingering anxiety around memory’s historic boom-bust pattern. SK Hynix’s forward price-to-earnings ratio remains elevated, and the stock’s extreme sensitivity to macroeconomic headlines makes it a high-conviction but high-volatility bet.

Huang’s personal confirmation that SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron have all passed HBM4 qualification for the Vera Rubin platform offers a floor to the narrative. Mass production is set to start in the third quarter, just as the chip sector faces its next major test: Micron’s quarterly earnings on 24 June, which will serve as a sentiment barometer for the entire memory complex.

For now, SK Hynix sits at the intersection of two powerful forces — a structural AI demand curve that continues to tighten supply, and a macro environment that punishes risk indiscriminately. The 19% weekly drop may look painful, but with a record order book, a fresh US listing pipeline, and a share price that still boasts a triple-digit yearly gain, the market has not yet decided which story will dominate the next chapter.