SK Hynix hits record revenue as AI memory boom drives DRAM prices higher - Proactive financial news

SK Hynix's revenue record is not a cyclical bounce—it is the irreversible reclassification of memory from commodity to strategic infrastructure. Technically, HBM3E TSV stacking scaling to 12-16 layers is cannibalizing DDR5 wafer capacity. HBM4's dependency on advanced packaging (CoWoS-class) dissolves the boundary between memory makers and foundries, fundamentally rewriting OEM BOM structures. Competitively, Samsung's HBM3E yield bottleneck, if unresolved by Q3, forfeits the NVIDIA next-gen platform certification window. Micron's Idaho expansion faces a 12-month technology gap. CXMT, despite equipment restrictions, is eroding mid-range DDR5 pricing power. On compliance, US export controls on advanced packaging equipment have created a bifurcated supply chain. Korean fabs remain deeply coupled to Taiwan, China's CoWoS capacity—any geopolitical escalation directly hits HBM delivery timelines. 12-24 month call: HBM4 mass production in 2026 triggers a price war, but structural AI inference demand lifts the cycle floor by 30-40%. The memory hog cycle is dying. What replaces it: an AI compute rationing system where HBM capacity equals compute pricing power.