SK Hynix Keeps Building Even as Washington's Licence Queue Stalls the Blueprint

SK Hynix has no intention of tearing up its investment and output blueprints. Industry contacts cited in Friday media reports saw no sign of customers cancelling chip supply contracts or trimming order volumes, and the company itself said it had observed no such changes.

That reassurance lands at a useful moment. Reuters had linked an earlier selloff in South Korean chipmakers to worries about tighter US rules for AI data centres and slower infrastructure spending. On Friday, MoneyToday reported that domestic institutional buyers were stepping in to absorb persistent foreign selling, and the stock gained 0.7%.

A US Reorganisation Takes Shape

Beyond the trading floor, SK Hynix is preparing further executive appointments in the United States and an operational reshuffle around 3 December, according to media reports published today. The plan includes expanding the US workforce. According to the SK Group, the changes are meant to deepen collaboration with AI customers such as Nvidia at early stages of development.

Access to American manufacturing equipment remains the awkward counterpart to those ambitions. SK Hynix said on Wednesday that it continues to bring US-made tools into its Dalian plant under an existing export licence, with talks over next year's approval still under way. The same day, the company said it had not yet finalised a concrete investment plan for a US fab.

Dalian, New York and a Financing Chain

Reuters reported on 3 November that US authorities had not yet granted licences for additional equipment to expand production in Dalian. According to the news agency, that complicated Solidigm's reported investment plans in New York: SK Hynix intended to use higher output in Dalian to help finance the US expansion.

The subsidiary's proposed commitment there runs to roughly $45 billion across two NAND fabs, a figure people cited by Reuters said could climb to around $100 billion over time. Roughly a week before the 3 November report, Reuters had said US authorities had yet to approve applied-for licences covering American chipmaking equipment for the Dalian output increase.

Sold-Out Capacity and a Record Quarter

On the memory side, SK Hynix said on 28 October that demand was outstripping supply. Long-term agreements cover more than 50% of production capacity for 2027–2028, according to the company, which expects the memory shortage to persist until 2030.

The same date brought third-quarter 2026 figures: revenue of 104.6 trillion won and operating profit of 83.3 trillion won. A separate report put revenue at 105 trillion won and net profit at 39.8 trillion won. SK Hynix also said it would return gains realised this year on its Kioxia stake to shareholders through a special dividend, and it shelved a review of a Solidigm IPO.

KB Securities reaffirmed its buy rating and 3.5 million won price target on 2 November, pointing to record third-quarter results, long-term supply agreements and the shareholder return programme.