HK Stock Concept Tracker | SK Hynix Expects Memory Chip Shortage to Last Until 2030! Institutions Suggest Focusing on Earnings Delivery of Core Targets (with Concept Stocks)

According to the earnings announcement released by SK Hynix on October 28, the company achieved operating revenue of KRW104.6155 trillion, operating profit of KRW83.3338 trillion, and net profit of KRW39.7756 trillion in the third quarter. Quarterly revenue exceeded KRW100 trillion for the first time, and the operating margin reached 80%. Revenue rose 32% quarter-on-quarter and 328% year-on-year, while operating profit rose 38% quarter-on-quarter and 632% year-on-year. SK Hynix expects the memory market supply shortage to last until 2030 and plans to significantly expand investment next year. It expects DRAM market demand to grow more than 20% year-on-year in 2027 and announced a shareholder return plan with a total scale of KRW100 trillion for 2026. Memory chips are integrated circuits manufactured using semiconductor processes for data storage, mainly including DRAM, NAND Flash, and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) stacked and packaged on this basis. They are widely used in servers, mobile phones, PCs, and AI computing equipment. The DRAM usage per AI server is about 8 to 10 times that of a traditional server, and NAND usage is more than 3 times. The expansion of AI computing power is pushing memory from a supporting component to a core cost item in computing infrastructure. The previous day, Musk rarely talked up memory on a social platform. In response to a forecast by research institution Counterpoint that humanoid Siasun Robot&Automation DRAM demand will grow 20 times by 2030 from now, Musk directly responded that it was "ridiculous" and said the memory capacity required by Siasun Robot&Automation will exceed the total of all other devices on Earth. He stressed that Siasun Robot&Automation uses low-power DRAM chips rather than HBM, and that as AI expands beyond data centers, memory chip manufacturers may usher in greater market opportunities. At the industry level, the price increase wave continues. TrendForce expects general-purpose DRAM contract prices to rise 10%-15% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter of 2026, and NAND Flash contract prices to rise 15%-20% quarter-on-quarter, with enterprise SSDs being the only NAND product category where the pace of price increases is accelerating. According to recent media reports, major global PC manufacturers such as HP and Dell have signed long-term supply agreements (LTAs) with memory manufacturers to cope with global memory chip supply tightness and cost pressure and to improve the stability of component procurement in 2027. Affected by expanded global AI infrastructure investment and surging memory demand, PC manufacturers have faced greater supply pressure this year. According to reports, an executive at a PC company revealed that in the first half of this year, some companies actually obtained only 70%-80% of their required DRAM memory and SSD storage products. However, with the signing of long-term supply agreements, component procurement in 2027 is expected to face no major problems. Long-term supply agreements not only help stabilize production but also ease cost pressure to a certain extent. Although DRAM and SSD prices are expected to continue rising next year, leading PC manufacturers have strengthened their response capacity through long-term agreements. Taking into account price changes in key components such as CPUs and GPUs, PC component price increases are expected to slow to 10%-20% in 2027, which will help companies maintain profitability. "Tech stocks staged a desperate counterattack, SK Hynix's third-quarter results exploded, and memory chips continue to show extremely strong prosperity." EB SECURITIES noted that HBM4 revenue share is expected to exceed HBM3E in the fourth quarter. Coupled with more than half of 2027 and 2028 capacity already locked by long-term agreements, the stability of original manufacturers' profits and their ability to capture the dividend from price increases are strengthening simultaneously. The significant expansion of capital expenditure in 2027 will also drive demand for upstream equipment and materials. "Memory continues its price increase trend; focus on earnings delivery of core targets." Sealand believes that in the fourth quarter of 2026, DRAM original manufacturers will still prioritize advanced processes for high-performance server products, maintaining an overall supply shortage pattern, but contract price increases will slow. TrendForce expects general-purpose DRAM contract prices to rise 10% to 15% quarter-on-quarter and NAND Flash to rise 15% to 20% quarter-on-quarter. The sector's market movement is shifting from being driven by earlier price increase expectations to a stage of verification through earnings delivery. Related concept stocks: Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation(00981): Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation(00981) released its interim results for the period ended 2026. The group achieved revenue of US$5.511 billion, up 23.7% year-on-year; profit attributable to owners of the company during the period was US$677 million, up 111.1% year-on-year; basic earnings per share were US$0.08. The announcement stated that the revenue increase was mainly due to higher wafer sales volume, higher average selling price, and changes in product mix during the period. The number of wafers sold (equivalent to 8-inch standard logic) increased 14.9% from 4,682 thousand pieces in the same period last year to 5,379 thousand pieces in the current period. The average selling price (revenue from wafer sales divided by total wafers sold) was US$966 in the current period, compared with US$903 in the same period last year. GigaDevice Semiconductor Inc.(03986): The company's memory chip products saw both volume and price increases, and profitability improved significantly. In the first half of 2026, memory chips achieved revenue of RMB9.827 billion, up 245.44% year-on-year, with a gross margin of 67.57%. Niche DRAM and SLC NAND Flash grew rapidly year-on-year. MCU products benefited from demand in industrial, consumer, and automotive sectors, and shipment scale achieved good growth. In terms of performance, the company achieved operating revenue of RMB11.566 billion in the first half of 2026, up 178.67% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent company was RMB6.857 billion, up 1,091.50% year-on-year. Montage Technology(06809): As a leader in the memory interconnect chip market, Montage Technology is transforming from a memory interconnect leader into a platform-based interconnect chip company. In the AI era, leveraging its long-term focus on key high-speed interconnect chips between computing power and storage, the company has formed a rich product matrix and occupies a leading position in the global market. PCle Retimer products have entered the volume ramp-up stage, and the company is extending along the same path into the higher-value PCle Switch field, which is expected to open new growth space. As AI shifts from model training to inference, especially with the development of AI agents, demand for server CPUs is continuing to rise, and the company is a major beneficiary of strong CPU demand. Shenzhen Longsys Electronics(09976): According to the prospectus, Shenzhen Longsys Electronics is a globally leading independent brand semiconductor memory manufacturer. Based on the company's vertically integrated capabilities covering controller chip and memory chip design, firmware development, system-level packaging, and testing, Shenzhen Longsys Electronics designs, develops, manufactures, and sells a complete memory product portfolio for edge AI and traditional consumer-grade, enterprise-grade, and industrial-grade applications. According to CIC data, based on 2025 memory product revenue, Shenzhen Longsys Electronics is the second-largest independent semiconductor memory manufacturer among more than 100 market participants globally and the largest independent memory manufacturer among more than 30 market participants in China. In 2025, Shenzhen Longsys Electronics held a 1.2% market share in the global memory product market. Given the huge market size of the industry, this share is significant for an independent memory company.