◆ Inside the Latest Quarter (Q2 2026)

SK hynix (SKHY) — the variant view

Net income larger than revenue, because 63 trillion won of it came from selling a stake in a competitor -- and the operating result underneath it was still a miss against consensus.

📈 SKHY valuation, revenue & earnings — P/E, P/S, revenue, EPS →

SK hynix's second quarter of 2026 produced revenue of ₩79,318.7 billion, up 257% year on year and 51% on the first quarter, with operating profit of ₩60,542.6 billion — an operating margin of about 76%1.

Q2 2026, ₩ trillion₩79.3TRevenue₩60.5TOperating profit₩93.9TNet income₩63.3Tof which Kioxia gainNet income exceeded revenue. Consensus was ₩84T of revenue and ₩64T of operating profit.
Strip out the one-off and a record quarter was still a miss against expectations.

Net income was ₩93,922.6 billion, which is larger than revenue. That is not an error and it is not operations: it includes a one-off gain of roughly ₩63.3 trillion on the disposal of the company's Kioxia holding2. Strip it out and the underlying result is still extraordinary, but the headline earnings figure and the earnings-per-share attached to it are not a run rate, and any multiple calculated on them is meaningless.

The balance sheet moved as much as the income statement: ₩87,958 billion of cash and short-term instruments against ₩18,587 billion of borrowings, with equity more than doubling year on year to ₩262,693 billion3. A company that lost ₩9.11 trillion in 20234 has, in one quarter, accumulated more net cash than most of the companies in this collection are worth.

Two things beneath the headline deserve attention. Consensus had been about ₩64 trillion of operating profit on ₩84 trillion of revenue5 — so a record quarter was also a miss, which is what a stock priced for repeated upgrades does to a merely excellent result. And the concentration is total in two directions at once: DRAM was 71.8% of second-quarter sales against NAND's 27.7%6, and the two largest customers were 14.8% and 12.4% of revenue7.

The market's response was to sell the shares 9.61% lower8. That reaction is the whole investment question stated as a price.

References
  1. ReportedRevenue of ₩79,318.7bn, up 256.8% year on year and 50.9% on the first quarter, with operating profit of ₩60,542.6bn — about 76%.
    SK hynix Inc., preliminary results of operations for the second quarter of 2026 (SEC Form 6-K, 29 July 2026) — revenue W 79,318,746 million, up 50.9% on Q1 2026's W 52,576,287 million and 256.8% on Q2 2025's W 22,231,952 million; operating profit W 60,542,608 million, up 61.0% sequentially and 557.2% year on year, an operating margin of about 76%; profit before income tax W 122,708,355 million; profit for the period W 93,922,593 million. First-half 2026 revenue W 131,895,033 million, operating profit W 98,152,891 million and profit W 134,268,502 million. Prepared on a consolidated basis under K-IFRS and unaudited. — Q2 2026 (quarter ended 30 June 2026) · publ. 2026-07-29 · source ↗
  2. ReportedNet profit of ₩93.92 trillion included about ₩63.3 trillion of investment asset gains recognised on the disposal of the Kioxia stake, held since 2018.
    Korea JoongAng Daily — SK hynix posted record second-quarter profit on AI demand while the shares slid on growth doubts. Net profit of 93.92 trillion won included about 63.3 trillion won of investment asset gains, recognised after the closing of the disposal of its Kioxia stake in June; SK hynix had held the position since 2018. — Q2 2026 · publ. 2026-07-30 · source ↗
  3. Reported₩87,957.9bn of cash and short-term instruments against ₩18,586.6bn of borrowings, with equity more than doubling to ₩262,693.2bn.
    SK hynix Inc., semi-annual business report for the six months to 30 June 2026 (SEC Form 6-K, 18 August 2026) — 'The Company determines supply volumes and prices on a monthly and quarterly basis by mutual agreement with major customers, and there is no order backlog based on long term supply contracts.' Total equity W 262,693,228 million at 30 June 2026 against W 120,666,751 million at 31 December 2025; cash and cash equivalents, short-term financial instruments and short-term investment assets W 87,957,923 million against W 34,942,253 million; total borrowings W 18,586,634 million against W 22,247,905 million; debt-to-equity 32.80%, net borrowing ratio not disclosed because it is negative. For the six months to 30 June 2026, revenues of W 17,608,702 million (13.35%) and W 17,187,421 million (13.03%) were derived from external Customers A and B respectively; for the six months to 30 June 2025, W 10,890,639 million (27.31%) came from Customer A. IDC market share: DRAM 29.9% in 2023, 33.4% in 2024, 34.8% in 2025 and 29.1% in Q1 2026; NAND 19.6%, 21.4%, 20.9% and 18.5%. Gartner's world DRAM market: US$78.7bn in 2022 (-15.4%), US$49.9bn in 2023 (-36.5%), US$91.6bn in 2024 (+82.7%) and US$146.9bn in 2025 (+60.0%). Announced investments include approximately W 15 trillion for M15X in Cheongju, approximately W 19 trillion for the P&T7 advanced packaging plant and W 21,608.1 billion for Yongin, against long-term plans of roughly W 600 trillion for the Yongin cluster and W 100 trillion for Cheongju. The company developed the world's first 321-layer QLC NAND. China's State Administration for Market Regulation cleared the Intel NAND acquisition conditionally, obliging the group to maintain a reasonable pricing policy, increase production and support the entry of third-party competitors into the Chinese eSSD market for five years from December 2021. — six months to 30 June 2026 · publ. 2026-08-18 · source ↗
  4. ReportedA loss for the year of ₩9,138bn in 2023.
    SK hynix Inc., Form 424B4 prospectus — consolidated income statements and management's discussion (SEC, CIK 2120882). FY2025: revenue W 97,147bn, cost of sales W 38,456bn, gross profit W 58,691bn, selling and administrative expenses W 5,019bn, research and development W 6,466bn, profit for the year W 42,948bn. FY2024: revenue W 66,193bn, gross profit W 31,828bn, R&D W 4,436bn, profit W 19,797bn. FY2023: revenue W 32,766bn, cost of sales W 33,299bn, a gross loss of W 533bn, an operating loss of W 7,730bn and a loss for the year of W 9,138bn, following a fall in memory prices from the third quarter of 2022. Q1 2026: revenue W 52,576bn, cost of sales W 10,897bn, gross profit W 41,679bn, R&D W 2,451bn, profit W 40,346bn. — FY2023-FY2025 and Q1 2026 · publ. 2026-07-10 · source ↗
  5. Third-party estimateAnalysts had expected about ₩64 trillion of operating profit on about ₩84 trillion of revenue.
    CNBC — 'SK Hynix shares fall; earnings jump fails to satisfy AI expectations'. Operating profit rose 557% year on year to 60.54 trillion won but fell short of analyst expectations of about 64 trillion won on revenue of about 84 trillion won, and the shares dropped about 9.6%. — Q2 2026 results reaction · publ. 2026-07-29 · source ↗
  6. Moat Explorer calcDRAM was 71.8% of second-quarter sales against NAND's 27.7%.
    Moat Explorer calculation from SK hynix's semi-annual business report, January-June 2026: Q2 2026 revenue by product DRAM W56,982,743M, NAND flash W21,959,898M, others W376,105M of W79,318,746M (Q2 2025: W17,123,990M, W4,727,806M of W22,231,952M) - shares and growth rates as stated. — Q2 2026 · publ. 2026-08-14 · source ↗
    Method: 56,982,743 / 79,318,746; 21,959,898 / 79,318,746.
  7. ReportedThe two largest customers were 14.8% and 12.4% of revenue.
    SK hynix Inc., Form 424B4 prospectus — risk factors and the offering (SEC, CIK 2120882). 'A substantial portion of our sales is attributable to a limited number of customers located in the United States and China. Our two largest customers represented 14.8% and 12.4%, respectively, of our total revenue in the first quarter of 2026 and our largest customer represented 23.9% of our total revenue in 2025.' DRAM products were 77.3% of total sales in Q1 2026 and 77.1% in 2025; NAND flash 22.0% and 21.3%. NAND mass production is transitioning from 176-layer technology to 238- and 321-layer technologies. The offering was 177,900,000 ADSs at US$149.00 each, representing 17,790,000 common shares against 712,702,365 outstanding, each ADS one-tenth of a share; Baillie Gifford Overseas, funds managed by Coatue Management and Situational Awareness Partners indicated a non-binding interest of up to US$7 billion. — FY2025 and Q1 2026 · publ. 2026-07-10 · source ↗
  8. ReportedThe shares fell about 9.6% on the results.
    CNBC — 'SK Hynix shares fall; earnings jump fails to satisfy AI expectations'. Operating profit rose 557% year on year to 60.54 trillion won but fell short of analyst expectations of about 64 trillion won on revenue of about 84 trillion won, and the shares dropped about 9.6%. — Q2 2026 results reaction · publ. 2026-07-29 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 23, 2026