SK Hynix says memory shortages to persist until 2030

What happened

Alongside its quarterly results, SK Hynix said it expects memory shortages to persist until at least the year 2030, attributing this to AI-driven demand growth outpacing supply, the technical difficulty of leading-edge processes, and the long lead time required to build new production facilities. The company has 14 long-term deals with 14 big buyers, who will collectively buy more than half of its output during 2027 and 2028, and some of them want to extend the agreements; the deals include a mechanism that reflects market conditions within a price range agreed upon with customers. These deals helped SK Hynix record quarterly revenue of ₩104.6 trillion ($78.1 billion), up 328 percent year-over-year and 32 percent quarter-over-quarter, with operating profit of ₩87.68 trillion ($62.8 billion), up 486 percent year over year. The company outlined plans to expand production, including increasing HBM4 output, which it believes will surpass HBM3E in both shipment volume and revenue in the fourth quarter and become a mainstream product; rapidly increasing the portion of its 10nm-class 6th generation (1c) process technology and expanding sales of DDR5 and LPDDR5 SOCAMM for AI servers; and developing NAND based on HBF. Chief financial officer Kim Woo-hyun predicted that shipment volumes for PCs and mobile devices are expected to decrease due to cost burdens from rising memory prices and supply shortages. The company's share price rose about three percent in after-hours trading.

Impact and signal

Affected components and suppliers

Source and time

Source: The Register · 10/27/2026 · View original source