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SK hynix Q3 2026: revenue 104.6 trillion won, operating profit 83.3 trillion won

SK hynix posted record third-quarter results on 28 October, with revenue above 100 trillion won for the first time as HBM4 shipments ramped.

audiotale.net team

· 5 min read

Written by AI from the sources linked below. How we use AI

On this page
  1. Key points
  2. What happened
  3. Background
  4. The numbers
  5. What it means
  6. What we don't know yet
  7. What to watch next
  8. Sources

SK hynix reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of 104.6 trillion won on 28 October, the first quarter above 100 trillion won in the company's history, and an operating profit of 83.3 trillion won. Both are records. The Korean memory maker credits server DDR5 and the start of full-scale HBM4 shipments, and says it expects memory supply to stay short of demand through 2030.

Key points

  • Revenue was 104.6 trillion won, up 32% from the second quarter (79.3 trillion) and up 328% from a year earlier (24.4 trillion), per SK hynix's preliminary K-IFRS results.
  • Operating profit was 83.3 trillion won, up 632% year on year; the company reports an operating margin of 80% (79.7% unrounded, per Seoul Economic Daily), against 76% in Q2 and 47% in Q3 2025.
  • Net profit was 39.8 trillion won, below the 61.29 trillion won FnGuide forecast cited by the Korea JoongAng Daily.
  • SK hynix expects HBM4 to overtake HBM3E in both shipments and revenue in Q4, and says long-term agreements cover more than half of its 2027-2028 production.
  • It plans about 100 trillion won of shareholder returns in 2026 and approved a 14 trillion won Q3 dividend and a 20 trillion won buyback.

What happened

The company published preliminary results, which remain under audit review, under Korean accounting rules. Revenue of 104.6 trillion won compares with 79.3 trillion in the second quarter and 24.4 trillion in the third quarter of 2025. Operating profit rose to 83.3 trillion won from 60.5 trillion in Q2 and 11.4 trillion a year earlier.

Both headline numbers beat expectations. Korea JoongAng Daily cites FnGuide consensus of 76.96 trillion won operating profit and 98.23 trillion won revenue; Seoul Economic Daily cites a slightly different FnGuide brokerage average of 75.97 trillion won and 96.66 trillion won, which puts the beat at 9.7% on operating profit and 8.2% on revenue. Sources differ because providers survey different brokers, so we give both. Seoul Economic Daily also reports the margin beat the 78.6% estimate.

Net profit was 39.8 trillion won, 38% of revenue. That is up 216% from a year earlier but down 58% from the second quarter, which included a much larger net figure of 93.9 trillion won according to the company. JoongAng reports the net figure fell short of a 61.29 trillion won forecast. The company's summary does not say what drove the second-quarter spike, so we do not speculate.

On products, the company says DRAM growth came mainly from server DDR5, with HBM4 shipments starting in earnest. In NAND, sales of 321-layer TLC enterprise SSDs grew and data-centre products expanded across the board.

Background

SK hynix is a major supplier of high-bandwidth memory, the stacked DRAM placed next to AI accelerators. For the software side of the same AI build-out, see our look at how LLM API prices fell since June. A year earlier, in Q3 2025, SK hynix earned 11.4 trillion won of operating profit on 24.4 trillion of revenue, which gives a feel for the scale of the change.

The numbers

SK hynix quarterly revenue (the quarters shown are the three the company compares, not consecutive)trillion won
SK hynix quarterly revenue (the quarters shown are the three the company compares, not consecutive) (trillion won)
trillion won
Q3 202524.4
Q2 202679.3
Q3 2026104.6

Source: SK hynix Q3 2026 results (preliminary, K-IFRS)

SK hynix operating profittrillion won
SK hynix operating profit (trillion won)
trillion won
Q3 202511.4
Q2 202660.5
Q3 202683.3

Source: SK hynix Q3 2026 results (preliminary, K-IFRS)

Operating margin tells the same story: 47% in Q3 2025, 76% in Q2 2026 and 80% in Q3 2026 by the company's rounding. Seoul Economic Daily gives 79.7% for this quarter and says the margin rose from about 72% in Q1 to 76.3% in Q2. A margin that high is unusual for a manufacturer.

The balance sheet moved too. Cash and equivalents rose 26.5 trillion won from Q2 to 114.5 trillion; borrowings fell 2.8 trillion to 15.8 trillion, leaving net cash of 98.7 trillion won. Dollar conversions vary by outlet: Korea Times and JoongAng put operating profit at $62.8 billion, while other outlets use lower figures, so we show won.

What it means

For AI builders, the message is about supply. SK hynix says it expects memory supply to fall short of demand through 2030, because leading-edge processes are hard and new fabs take years to build. It also says long-term agreements now cover more than half of its 2027-2028 production, with 14 major customers under contract, typically for five years and with prices set within agreed ranges. If that holds, buyers of accelerators and servers should expect memory to stay a constrained input rather than a commodity that falls in price.

For investors and the industry, the numbers show how fast profit has moved: operating profit in one quarter is now more than seven times the figure for the same quarter a year earlier. Competitors benefit from the same tight market, but we have not checked their figures here. For shareholders, the company targets about 100 trillion won of returns in 2026: at least 30 trillion in cash dividends and at least 60 trillion in buybacks and cancellations, including a 40 trillion won programme announced in August. The board approved a Q3 dividend of 14 trillion won (20,000 won per share, a 10,000-won regular dividend plus a 10,000-won special dividend from Kioxia investment gains) and a 20 trillion won buyback, of which about 10 trillion will be cancelled and about 10 trillion goes to employee compensation, excluded from the return total.

What we don't know yet

  • The audited figures; these are preliminary.
  • What drove the second-quarter net profit of 93.9 trillion won, and why Q3 net profit missed the forecast cited by JoongAng.
  • Actual HBM4 volumes and prices; the company gives no unit or revenue split for HBM.
  • Which customers are under the 14 long-term contracts and at what prices.
  • How much 2027 capital spending will rise; the company says only "significantly", led by the Yongin Phase 1 fab, and that it will adjust to demand and returns.

What to watch next

Watch Q4 for the HBM4-over-HBM3E crossover the company predicts, the M15X fab reaching maximum capacity by year-end, the 321-layer NAND process passing half of domestic capacity, and the 2027 investment plan. Results from other memory makers will show whether the pricing strength is industry-wide.

Sources

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