TrendForce reported at 4:03 PM on Oct 31, 2026 that SK hynix has put Solidigm's US IPO on hold. The source does not state the cause, nor any IPO timetable or follow-up arrangements. This is a report of a corporate action status change only, not a price or supply-demand data point.
According to a Blocks & Files report published Friday 30 Oct 2026, Samsung almost reported its first-ever ₩200 trillion quarterly revenues in its third 2026 quarter, with revenues of ₩195.3 trillion ($145.5 billion), up 121.8 percent Y/Y, and an operating profit of ₩107.4 trillion ($80 billion), making Samsung Electronics the world's first tech company to exceed ₩100 trillion ($74.5 billion) in quarterly operating profit. The report attributes this to soaring AI demand for HBM, DRAM and NAND enabling high prices for its semiconductor technology. The DS (Device Solutions) semiconductor business accounted for 72 percent of Samsung Electronics' revenues in the quarter, at ₩147 trillion ($109.6 billion), up 15 percent Q/Q; within that, memory at ₩140.7 trillion ($104.8 billion) accounted for 95.7 percent, achieved by ramping up HBM4 sales and meeting demand for server SSDs. Samsung said strong demand momentum for servers led to higher market prices across all applications. Competitor SK hynix reported revenues of ₩104 trillion ($78.9 billion) in its third 2026 quarter, with a ₩39.8 trillion (c$30 billion) profit, less revenue and profit than the directly comparable Samsung DS division. Samsung says investments are planned for new fabs and other infrastructure to meet strong AI and HPC demand, and it intends to further increase HBM, server DRAM, and SSD sales, specifically increasing supply of high-speed server DDR5 product and QLC SSDs. Samsung expects AI infrastructure capital expenditure to reach a historic level in 2027, greater than this year, and states that 'AI-driven demand will far exceed the industry supply in comparison with 2026.' These are reported results and company outlook, not achieved future outcomes.
TSMC's patent disclosures involving vertical DRAM raise the question of whether the foundry could eventually challenge established memory makers. The source notes that US20220359529A1, published in November 2022, describes a vertical-channel transistor integrated with a hybrid trench-and-stacked capacitor, while another application filed in May 2022 and published as US20230240066A1 places a capacitor directly above a vertical gate-all-around transistor. The article stresses these are technical explorations that should not be merged into a single architecture or treated as product announcements, and do not establish TSMC's production readiness, investment commitment, or intention to sell commodity DRAM; plausible uses (embedded memory, logic-memory integration, or future customer requirements) remain an inference rather than a disclosed commercial strategy. SK hynix has publicly identified both a 4F² vertical-gate platform and 3D DRAM as future directions, though these are related but distinct concepts. The article lists three obstacles for 3D DRAM: electrical control, capacitor integration, and manufacturing economics, concluding that competition will be decided by turning promising structures into dependable products at competitive cost. The source states no price movement or supply change.
Micron announced that about 700 eligible employees in Taiwan will receive five years' worth of salary in bonuses as three bonuses are paid in a single payout; according to Digitimes this covers roughly 17% of the more than 4,300 production-line employees at Micron Taiwan, while the remaining staff will also receive three bonuses in October. The lump-sum payout consists of an annual performance bonus estimated at 7.5 to 12.5 months of salary for the majority of workers, a mass-production bonus of 20% of annual salary, and a one-time $31,000 (NT$1,000,000) appreciation bonus prorated for employees with less than a full year of service. Micron workers across the globe also expect a new quarterly profit bonus paid 50% in cash and 50% in stock, starting January 2027, with the first one paid 100% in cash. The source states this is a direct effect of the AI-driven memory chip boom, which brought Micron, Samsung and SK hynix massive orders from AI hyperscalers and record profits; Samsung workers voted to accept a $340,000 average bonus in May 2026, while SK hynix workers are set to receive $477,000 in bonuses this year, potentially growing to almost $900,000 in 2027. Meanwhile, the Micron Taoyuan union remains in a pay dispute with management: some officials have launched a one-day strike demanding clearer profit-sharing arrangements and bonus terms, nearly 70% of Taoyuan members turned down management's latest offer, and the two sides are tentatively set to meet again on November 6; the Micron Taichung union has already agreed to a 10% employer's pension contribution and a tripling of the day-shift allowance. The article notes that reliance on performance and profit bonuses means these incentives could fall sharply if AI demand declines and the demand cycle normalizes.
SK Hynix has appointed its AI memory development chief to lead a newly established Americas unit based in the US, placing the technology veteran closer to major US customers. The source frames the move against the industry shift toward customized high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and deeper collaboration with chip developers. The source does not state a specific cause for the appointment, and the item contains no price, capacity, or date details.
The source states that the memory boom is fueling more than record profits and is locking in supply for years to come, with memory giants including Samsung, SK hynix, Micron and SanDisk racing to secure LTAs (long-term agreements). SanDisk reported a blockbuster 1QFY27 quarter: revenue skyrocketed 378% YoY and EPS surged 6,913%. The NAND company had already secured 8 NBM customers by August, and says existing clients are now exploring longer-term deals (still at the exploring stage, not confirmed as concluded).
SK hynix announced on October 30, 2026 that it held its first Partners Day in Japan, in Chiba Prefecture, inviting executives from over 20 key local business partners. The article says the event was held on the 29th (no year is specified in the body text). Partners came from five sectors, including materials companies such as Shin-Etsu, SUMCO, JSR and Namics; equipment companies such as Tokyo Electron (TEL) and SCREEN Holdings; back-end processing and testing companies such as DISCO and Advantest; and companies specializing in components and infrastructure. Attendees included Chief Production Officer (CPO) Lee Byeong-gi, Vice President Youjong Kang (head of Procurement), and Vice President Woojin Choi (head of Package & Test). The company stated the event aimed to share mid- to long-term business and technology roadmaps, enable partners to gauge demand in advance and prepare facility investments and production capacity through early information sharing, strengthen Korea–Japan semiconductor cooperation, and enhance stable supply chains. The source does not state any direct impact on specific product supply-demand or prices.
On Oct. 30, Hanmi Semiconductor reported third-quarter revenue of 181 billion won and operating profit of 90.8 billion won, up 8.9% and 33.9% respectively from a year earlier; the operating margin reached 50.2%, up 9.4 percentage points from 40.8% a year earlier. The company said increased demand for equipment such as thermocompression (TC) bonders used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production supported earnings growth, attributing this to a high-value-added business structure centered on AI semiconductor packaging equipment. Sequentially, however, revenue and operating profit fell 27.9% and 30.3% respectively. Hanmi Semiconductor expects fourth-quarter results to improve from the third quarter because deliveries of some equipment originally scheduled for the third quarter were deferred to the fourth, and it expects to set new annual records for both revenue and operating profit for a third consecutive year, following 2024 and 2025. The company also cited a positive medium- to long-term outlook on continued capacity expansion by global semiconductor companies, having established its U.S. subsidiary Hanmi USA in California in October, and expects another record-high dividend this year after paying a 2025 year-end dividend of 800 won per share.
According to the report published Friday 30 Oct 2026, Intel's share price plunged on Thursday after the company announced its Q3 results: shares started the day at $92.96 apiece, sank to $73 immediately after the results were announced, and reached $70.87 in after-hours trading at the time of writing, a 23.7 percent slump. The Q3 results included a 21 percent year-on-year revenue jump to $16.5 billion, at the high end of Intel's revenue guidance of $15.8-16.8 billion, helped by 78 percent growth for datacenter and AI products, and gross margins of 43 percent, which beat Intel's predictions by two points; however, revenue for client computing and physical AI products reached $8.1 billion, falling five percent year-over-year and declining nine percent from last quarter. In prepared remarks, CEO Lip Bu Tan said that in recent weeks customers began signaling a PC slowdown based on memory prices and availability, that the pace of the PC correction has accelerated over the last two months as OEM partners aggressively manage inventory to match softer sell-through, and he predicted the market for PC chips will shrink by 12 percent next year and remain tough until memory availability and prices begin to normalize. CFO Dave Zinsner declined on the earnings call to offer guidance on whether Intel can meet server CPU demand early in Intel's next financial year, saying Intel will likely not fully meet what customers require and that the situation will be more challenging in the first half of the year than in the second half. Tan also predicted, as a forecast rather than an achieved result, that server CPU TAM, largely driven by agentic workloads, could increase as much as 5X over five years, from $40B to more than $200B. The report also notes that SK Hynix this week predicted memory shortages will persist until the year 2030 (a prediction by SK Hynix, not an Intel statement).
Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance are reportedly seeking long-term server DRAM supply agreements with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, with some requests extending through 2035, as Chinese cloud service providers (CSPs) join US technology giants in competing for future memory capacity. The report is of a planned, unconfirmed nature; the agreements are not confirmed as concluded, and the source states no cause beyond this competitive backdrop.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix expect memory shortages to persist for years despite rising investment in chip factories. The source attributes this to surging AI demand and increasingly complex manufacturing processes limiting how quickly new capacity can come online. This is an outlook from the two companies about future supply conditions, not realized data on shortage duration.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple, once one of the most powerful buyers in the NAND flash market, is losing some of its negotiating leverage as AI-driven demand gives memory suppliers greater pricing power. Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon have signed long-term supply agreements with Kioxia this year at higher prices, strengthening the chipmaker's negotiating position. Separately, South Korean outlet Economy Tribune reports that Apple has reportedly turned to a long-term NAND supply agreement, with market watchers identifying Kioxia as the likely partner; the terms remain undisclosed and this is a reported plan. The report adds that Apple may also pursue long-term agreements with Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron to secure future LPDDR5X and LPDDR6 supplies. According to TrendForce, memory's share of the 256GB iPhone Pro's bill of materials rose from around 10% a year earlier to 34% in 3Q26 and could exceed 40% in 1H27; TrendForce also estimates the iPhone 18 Pro's total BOM cost could rise 38% YoY, potentially forcing Apple to sacrifice margins to maintain shipments.
On October 29, 2026, SK hynix said it expects demand for memory to outstrip supply through 2030. The source states the cause: leading-edge processes are technically difficult and new fabs take a long time to build; in the short term demand is being driven by AI for businesses and consumers, and in the longer term by physical AI such as autonomous driving and robotics. The company has signed long-term agreements with 14 major customers, including large cloud service providers; the agreements typically run for five years and use a pricing mechanism that reflects market conditions within a range agreed with each customer, covering more than half of its production capacity for 2027 and 2028. In the third quarter, revenue reached a record KRW 104.6 trillion (about EUR 70.2 billion), up 32% from the previous quarter and more than quadrupled year on year — the first time quarterly revenue passed KRW 100 trillion; operating profit was KRW 83.3 trillion (about EUR 55.9 billion), an 80% operating margin. Growth was driven by a sharp increase in server DDR5 sales as HBM4 shipments began in earnest; in NAND, sales of 321-layer TLC eSSDs for data centres grew. SK hynix will ramp its M15X fab to full capacity by the end of the year to increase HBM4 production and expects HBM4 to overtake HBM3E in both volume and revenue in the fourth quarter; investment is set to increase significantly next year when the first phase of the Yongin cluster goes into full-scale operation, and the company says it will adjust the scale and timing of investment flexibly. It has also dropped plans for an IPO of its NAND subsidiary Solidigm, which had been intended to raise external capital for Solidigm's production expansion, saying current market conditions make it the wrong time.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are undertaking their largest-ever equipment investments in 2026, with the investment amount stated as KRW110 trillion in the title, but the memory supply increase is not expected to materialize until 2028. By then, new South Korean plants and expanded capacity at China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) are expected to come online simultaneously, potentially triggering price competition in commodity DRAM. The source does not state the cause of the delay in the supply increase.
According to TrendForce's post dated Oct 29, 2026, Samsung's HBM momentum is strong: its 2027 HBM supply is effectively sold out, HBM4 sales more than tripled in 3Q26, and its HBM market share is reportedly matching its broader DRAM standing. The post also notes that, hot on the heels of SK hynix's record quarter, Samsung's DS unit posted a 72% operating margin, while 10 major customers have signed memory LTAs, with 10 more in talks. The source does not state the cause for the sold-out supply or the sales growth.
This is a background technology column published on October 29, 2026 (authored by Professor Younghyun Kim of Hanyang University ERICA), explaining — not reporting — industry developments; it contains no price, capacity or policy event. The article states that AI data center bottlenecks have shifted from GPU compute speed to data movement: copper interconnects suffer signal loss, heat and repeater power overhead at high speeds and longer distances, so networks are shifting to silicon-photonics-based optical interconnects; co-packaged optics (CPO) places optical engines next to the switch ASIC to shorten electrical paths, increase bandwidth density and save power. It cites Meta's evaluation of a CPO switch system presented at ECOC 2025, in which power consumption in the optical interconnect portion was approximately 65% lower than a comparable pluggable architecture, with connection stability confirmed under the specific test conditions; companies such as NVIDIA and Broadcom are accelerating commercialization by introducing network products incorporating CPO technology. The article also describes LPO (removable modules with the DSP eliminated) and NPO (optical engines close to but outside the switch package) as alternative approaches, explains that HBM and CPO reduce GPU data-wait time at the memory and network levels respectively, and notes remaining CPO challenges including laser light supply, fiber connection, heat from ASICs, and yield improvement.
On Oct. 28, SK hynix reported consolidated revenue of 104.62 trillion won for the third quarter of this year, exceeding 100 trillion won in quarterly revenue for the first time, with operating profit of 83.33 trillion won; the figures represented year-on-year increases of 327.9% and 632.1% respectively, and quarter-on-quarter increases of 31.9% and 37.6%, both slightly exceeding market consensus estimates. Operating margin reached 79.7%, up 3.5 percentage points from the previous quarter; net profit totaled 39.78 trillion won, up 215.7% from a year earlier but down 57.7% from the preceding quarter. The company attributed its DRAM performance to increased shipments of fourth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) and expanded sales of DDR5 memory for servers; the NAND business grew on increased sales of 321-layer enterprise SSDs (eSSDs) and greater focus on high-value-added data center products. SK hynix expanded long-term supply agreements (LTAs) securing contracts covering more than 50% of its total production capacity for both 2027 and 2028, has signed LTAs with 14 major customers including large global cloud service providers (CSPs), and is discussing extending contract durations beyond the typical five-year term. The company expects the memory supply shortage to persist through 2030, citing increasing technical complexity in advanced processes and the time required to build new facilities as sustaining a market structure in which demand exceeds supply. In the fourth quarter, it plans to raise the share of its sixth-generation 10-nanometer-class 1c process in conventional DRAM production and expand sales of DDR5 and LPDDR5-based SOCAMM modules for AI servers; in NAND, it aims to lift its flagship 321-layer products to more than half of domestic production capacity. To meet surging HBM demand, it plans to maximize capacity at its Cheongju M15X facility by the end of the year and expand HBM4 production, expecting HBM4 to become its mainstay product in the fourth quarter, surpassing HBM3E in shipment volume and revenue. Investment spending is expected to increase significantly next year, including full-scale operations starting at its first Yongin fab. The company also plans shareholder returns totaling approximately 100 trillion won, including more than 30 trillion won in cash dividends for fiscal 2026 and a total of 60 trillion won in buybacks and cancellations (including the 40 trillion won announced in August), with a commitment to return more than 50% of free cash flow. On Oct. 28 the board approved a third-quarter cash dividend of 14 trillion won and 20 trillion won of share repurchases, of which 10 trillion won will be canceled; the remaining ~10 trillion won is for employee compensation and excluded from shareholder returns. The third-quarter dividend is 20,000 won per share, comprising a 10,000-won dividend reflecting improved earnings and a 10,000-won special dividend sharing gains from its Kioxia investment.
SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung joined the company's earnings conference call for the first time since taking office, on Oct. 28 at SK hynix's third-quarter 2026 earnings call, to outline its shareholder return policy; his appearance was seen as an effort to restore market confidence following shareholder opposition to the proposed IPO of Solidigm and a sharp decline in SK hynix's share price. Kwak said that after comprehensively considering financial market volatility and the correction in semiconductor industry share prices, the company decided to suspend its review of a Solidigm IPO; SK hynix had disclosed on Oct. 23 that it suspended consideration of both a pre-IPO investment round and an IPO for Solidigm, amid concerns that a separate listing could undermine shareholder value at the parent company through a duplicate listing. Kwak also announced plans to distribute returns from the Kioxia investment through a special dividend: SK hynix decided to distribute approximately 7 trillion won of its Kioxia investment gains as an initial special dividend in the third quarter, equivalent to 10,000 won per share, with the remainder to be included in the year-end dividend after final investment returns for this year are determined; the total amount to be returned through special dividends has yet to be finalized. Industry observers estimate the profit from the fund investment at approximately 20 trillion won (SK hynix joined a Bain Capital-led consortium in 2018 and invested a total of 395 billion yen, approximately 3.9 trillion won at the time, in Kioxia, then known as Toshiba Memory, through fund contributions and purchases of convertible bonds, fully recovering its investment in June when Bain Capital sold its stake in Kioxia). Including an additional dividend of 10,000 won per share reflecting improved operating performance, the company set its third-quarter dividend at 20,000 won per share, totaling approximately 14 trillion won. Including the third-quarter dividend, SK hynix plans to return approximately 100 trillion won to shareholders for the current fiscal year, comprising more than 30 trillion won in cash dividends and more than 60 trillion won in share repurchases and cancellations; first- and second-quarter dividends totaled approximately 265.8 billion won and 273.3 billion won respectively, about 539.1 billion won combined, and after deducting first-half dividends and the approximately 14 trillion won third-quarter dividend from the annual cash dividend target, additional fourth-quarter dividends are estimated to exceed 15 trillion won. The planned repurchases of more than 60 trillion won include the 40 trillion won program announced in August, which was completed last week with shares expected to be canceled soon; at its meeting on Oct. 28, the board approved an additional 20 trillion won in share repurchases, of which 10 trillion won will be used for shareholder returns with all purchased shares to be canceled, while the remaining approximately 10 trillion won will be used for employee compensation (excluded from the annual shareholder return total); based on the annual target, the company is expected to announce at least another 10 trillion won in share repurchases and cancellations during the fourth quarter. Additionally, at the end of the third quarter SK hynix held 114.5 trillion won in cash and cash equivalents with 15.8 trillion won in borrowings; net cash stood at 98.7 trillion won, up 29.3 trillion won from the previous quarter, moving closer to the 100 trillion won net cash financial stability target presented at its annual shareholders' meeting in March.
Samsung reported 3Q26 results: riding the AI memory boom, operating profit surged nearly ninefold YoY to a record KRW 107.4 trillion ($80.04 billion), and revenue climbed to KRW 195.3 trillion, exceeding its early-October preliminary estimate by KRW 300 billion. The semiconductor (DS) division delivered KRW 147.1 trillion in sales and KRW 106.5 trillion in operating profit, a 72.4% margin. Samsung has posted record revenue and operating profit for four consecutive quarters since 4Q25. During its October 29 earnings call, Samsung said HBM4 revenue more than tripled QoQ in 3Q26, accounting for roughly 60% of total HBM sales; its planned 2027 HBM supply is effectively sold out, with customer negotiations concluded at target pricing levels, though major clients continue to request additional volumes. Samsung also claims it has achieved its goal of bringing its HBM market share in line with its standing in the broader DRAM market (TrendForce ranked Samsung as the top DRAM supplier in 2Q26 with a 39.4% share). Against a tightening supply outlook, Samsung has finalized long-term memory supply agreements (LTAs) with 10 major customers and is negotiating with another 10, and reportedly sees its target of securing LTAs covering 60–70% of production capacity by 2030 increasingly within reach; Samsung expects chip supply to tighten further in 2027. On pricing, DRAM average selling prices (ASPs) climbed around 20% QoQ in 3Q26 and NAND gained a high-teens percentage QoQ, per News 1 citing Kim Jae-june, Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics' Memory Business; shipment growth was more modest, with DRAM volumes up a low- to mid-single-digit percentage and NAND up a mid-single-digit percentage sequentially.
SK Hynix reported record Q3 results, which the title attributes to an AI memory surge. The article body states that long-term customer contracts and rising chip prices point to a change in how memory manufacturers manage multi-year production capacity and capex. The source does not provide specific financial figures or price change magnitudes.
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