[News] SK hynix Posts Record 2Q Results but Misses Estimates Reportedly Due to Conservative Pricing; Completes 10 LTAs
SK hynix posted another record quarter, with second-quarter revenue surging 257% YoY to 79.32 trillion won (US$54.55 billion) and operating profit jumping 557% to 60.54 trillion won. However, both figures fell short of analysts’ estimates of 84 trillion won and 64 trillion won, respectively, according to CNBC.
Reuters, citing analysts, reports SK hynix’s more conservative price increases—particularly under long-term customer agreements—were a key factor behind the earnings shortfall compared with Samsung Electronics. SK hynix, in a press release, offered limited details on its long-term agreements, disclosing that it has completed 10 such deals.
DS Investment & Securities analyst Lee Su-rim told Reuters that Samsung has stronger pricing power and has raised prices more aggressively than SK hynix. Despite the reported pricing gap, SK hynix maintained strong pricing momentum during the quarter, with DRAM ASP rising 30% QoQ and NAND ASP increasing by the mid-50% range.
Long-Term Agreements Take Center Stage
According to Reuters, SK hynix’s long-term memory supply deals also feature financial arrangements, including customer deposits, designed to support contract fulfillment while providing greater visibility into medium- and long-term demand. Underscoring its confidence in the demand outlook, SK hynix said it will boost capital spending this year to the high-40 trillion won range from 30.173 trillion won in 2025, Reuters reports.
The company’s long-term agreement strategy appears to focus on securing stable demand from major AI players, with its customer base understood to include leading U.S. hyperscalers and AI chipmakers, including NVIDIA, Newsis adds.
The move comes as NVIDIA seeks to secure critical AI memory supplies for its next-generation processors and systems. Last Friday, the chip giant announced that it had secured AI memory supply from SK hynix, with the multi-year agreement potentially valued at up to $500 billion. The deal also includes plans to build large-scale data centers expected to come online in 2027, NVIDIA said.
The shift toward long-term agreements is reshaping the broader memory industry. Newsis reports that major suppliers—including SK hynix, Samsung Electronics and Micron—have been steadily expanding their reliance on such contracts. Samsung currently generates about 40% of its contracts through long-term agreements, with that share expected to rise further, the report suggests.
SK hynix Advances HBM4, HBM4E Roadmap
Meanwhile, SK hynix is also advancing its HBM roadmap. According to Seoul Economic Daily, the company’s HBM4, which began mass production shipments to key customers in the second quarter, has achieved yield and quality levels comparable to HBM3E, a product that has already reached production maturity.
SK hynix said it has completed customer sampling for HBM4E and is progressing toward mass production, with commercial production targeted for 2027, the report notes.
During the earnings call, SK hynix also unveiled a more detailed technology roadmap targeting next-generation markets, including HBM5. Seoul Economic Daily reports that it is proactively developing iHBM, a tech that integrates hybrid bonding to effectively address thermal challenges. As explained by the report, iHBM applies built-in cooling elements inside the package to reduce thermal resistance by around 30% compared with existing solutions.
On the other hand, according to Chosun Biz, SK hynix’s sales of SOCAMM2, an AI-focused memory module that adapts low-power mobile DRAM for server environments to enhance power and space efficiency, also accelerated in the second quarter. SK hynix has expanded shipments of products manufactured using its 10nm-class sixth-generation (1c) DRAM process, the report adds.
In NAND, SK hynix’s 321-layer NAND has already accounted for the largest share of total output, with the company aiming for it to represent roughly 50% of domestic production capacity by the end of the year, CNBC reports.
Notably, TrendForce was first to flag that the current NAND Flash supply tightness is expected to ease in the second half of 2027, as ongoing process migrations, steady bit output growth, and persistently weak consumer electronics demand gradually restore market balance despite server demand is anticipated to stay strong next year.
According to TrendForce, in 2026, NAND Flash suppliers will rely primarily on process node migrations to meet rising demand, as existing fab space remains constrained and manufacturers continue prioritizing DRAM capacity expansion.
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(Photo credit: SK hynix)
