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| Period | Industry DRAM revenue (US$B) | SK hynix revenue (US$B) | SK hynix share (%) | Samsung share (%) | Micron share (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 2025 | 41.4 | 13.75 | 33.2 | 32.6 | 25.7 |
| Q4 2025 | 53.58 | 17.22 | 32.1 | 36 | 22.4 |
| Q1 2026 | 97 | 27.98 | 28.8 | 38.5 | 22.4 |
| Q2 2026 | 154.73 | 38.59 | 24.9 | 39.4 | 23.3 |
| Period | DRAM ASP QoQ | NAND ASP QoQ |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | Up low single-digit % | Down high single-digit % |
| Q3 2025 | Up mid-single-digit % | Up low-teen % |
| Q4 2025 | Up mid-20% | Up low-30% |
| Q1 2026 | Up mid-60% | Up mid-70% |
| Q2 2026 | Up approximately 30% | Up mid-50% |
| Period | DRAM bits QoQ | NAND bits QoQ | Actual or plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | Mid-20% | Over 70% | Actual (call) |
| Q3 2025 | High single-digit % | Down mid-single-digit % | Actual (call) |
| Q4 2025 | Low single-digit % | Approximately 10% | Actual (call) |
| Q1 2026 | Similar to Q4 2025 (flat vs prior quarter) | Down approximately 10% | Actual (call) |
| Q2 2026 | High single-digit % | Mid-teen % | Actual (call) |
| Q3 2026 | Approximately 10% | Low single-digit % | Company plan from the Q2 2026 call |
| Period | DRAM share of revenue (%) | NAND share of revenue (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 77 | Not printed as a standalone NAND % on the recap used here |
| Q1 2026 | 78 | 21 |
| Q2 2026 | 73 | 27 |
| Period | Printed product facts | Customer / status (company wording) |
|---|---|---|
| HBM3 (2022) | Company later described itself as the industry's first provider to mass-produce HBM3 in 2022 | Not a current-generation volume story. Kept as the company's own first-mover claim on the HBM4 sample release |
| HBM3E 8-layer (Mar 2024) | Delivered to customers in March 2024, described as first in the industry | Customers not named in the September 2024 newsroom note |
| HBM3E 12-layer (Sep 2024) | Volume production began 26 Sep 2024. 36 GB stack. DRAM chips 40% thinner than the 8-layer product. Operating speed 9.6 Gbps. Advanced MR-MUF | Company said it would supply mass-produced 12-layer product to customers within 2024. Customers not named |
| HBM4 12-layer samples | Company shipped 12-layer HBM4 samples. Bandwidth more than 2 TB/s. Capacity 36 GB. 2,048 I/O. Mass-production target at sample time was 2H 2025 | Samples to major customers, not named in the newsroom note |
| Q2 2026 HBM4 mass shipments | Mass production shipments of HBM4 began in Q2 2026. Full ramp planned in 2H 2026. Call: yield and quality nearing mature HBM3E levels | Q2 2026 call named NVIDIA as a major AI customer in the HBM collaboration discussion. Other key customers not named |
| HBM4E (H1 2026 samples) | Sample shipments completed in the first half of 2026. Company said it used a mature, mass-production-stable process node | Supplied to a major customer in 1H 2026. Customer not named |
| Period | Printed HBM comment | What was not disclosed |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | HBM demand expected to approximately double vs 2024. 12-layer HBM3E expected to account for over 50% of total HBM3E revenues in Q2 2025 | Not HBM as a percent of DRAM. Not an HBM dollar figure |
| FY 2025 | HBM revenue more than doubled year-on-year | No HBM dollar amount and no HBM percent of DRAM for the year or for Q4 |
| Q2 2026 | Began mass shipments of HBM4. HBM4E sample shipments completed in H1 2026. Call: HBM4 yield and quality nearing HBM3E maturity | No HBM percent of DRAM. No HBM revenue dollar figure for the quarter |
| Period | 321-layer NAND comment |
|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 call: in the previous quarter, 321-layer accounted for the largest proportion of NAND production |
| Q2 2026 | Newsroom: 321-layer products already represent the largest share of total production |
| YE 2026 plan | Approximately 50% of domestic production capacity. Capacity target, not a current mix % |
The HBM kingpin: supplies the memory that makes AI GPUs actually work.
HBM3E
High Bandwidth MemoryFirst to mass-produce HBM3E; NVIDIA technology and supply partnership announced June 2026
HBM4
Next-Gen HBMIn development for 2026 AI accelerators
DDR5
Server DRAMHigh-performance server memory
NAND Flash
StorageEnterprise SSD and data center storage
Market Share
~50% of HBM market (dominant), ~28% of total DRAM
Competitive Moat
First-mover in HBM3E, NVIDIA technology and memory-supply partnership (June 2026), process technology lead
Key Risk
Revenue highly concentrated in a cyclical memory market; Samsung and Micron catching up
SK Hynix controls more than half the HBM market by revenue (56.4% in Q1 2026 per IDC, cited in its July 2026 prospectus) and announced an NVIDIA technology and memory-supply partnership in June 2026. They're the hidden bottleneck of the entire AI buildout.
Hyundai Electronics, the company that becomes SK hynix, is established in February 1983, and construction of its Icheon plant begins in October (SK hynix company history, skhynix.com).
Hyundai Electronics starts its IPO in December 1996 (SK hynix history page, skhynix.com).
Hyundai Electronics Industries and Hyundai Semiconductor, the former LG Semicon, complete their integration and launch as one company on October 14, 1999 (SK hynix newsroom, October 15, 1999).
Hyundai Electronics changes its name to Hynix Semiconductor in March 2001 (SK hynix history page, skhynix.com).
SK Telecom buys the remaining interest in Hynix Semiconductor from its former creditors in February 2012, and the company is renamed SK hynix in March 2012 (SK hynix Form 424B4, filed July 10, 2026).
SK hynix develops what it calls the world's first TSV-based HBM in December 2013 (SK hynix newsroom heritage page, news.skhynix.com).
Toshiba signs a share purchase agreement on September 28, 2017 to sell Toshiba Memory to K.K. Pangea, a Bain Capital-led vehicle, for two trillion yen, with SK hynix to fund 395 billion yen and its voting rights capped at 15% (Toshiba news release, September 28, 2017). The sale closes on June 1, 2018 (Toshiba news release, June 1, 2018).
SK hynix announces on July 27, 2018 that it will build a new fab at its Icheon headquarters for 3.5 trillion won, with construction to start in late 2018 and finish in October 2020 (SK hynix newsroom, July 27, 2018). Its February 1, 2021 release says the M16 plant in Icheon, started in November 2018, took KRW 3.5 trillion (SK hynix newsroom, February 1, 2021).
SK hynix and Intel sign a purchase agreement on October 19, 2020 under which SK hynix will pay $9 billion for Intel's NAND SSD, NAND technology and manufacturing businesses and Dalian fab, $7 billion at a first closing and $2 billion at a second (Intel Form 8-K, October 20, 2020, Exhibit 99.1).
SK hynix announced on June 8, 2022 that it had begun mass production of HBM3, seven months after announcing its development, with up to 819GB/s of bandwidth; NVIDIA had completed its evaluation of the samples, and SK hynix said it would provide HBM3 for NVIDIA systems expected to ship starting in the third quarter of 2022 (SK hynix newsroom, June 8, 2022).
SK hynix says in its prospectus that in October 2022 the BIS announced export controls on advanced computing chips, supercomputers and advanced semiconductor manufacturing, and that it received permission from the BIS in October 2022 to supply its China-based manufacturing facilities with the equipment and items needed for one year without meeting the additional licensing requirements (SK hynix Form 424B4, July 10, 2026).
SK hynix says BIS designated it a Validated End-User in October 2023, giving it a general authorization to supply its China fabs with US equipment and items without individual licenses (SK hynix Form 424B4 prospectus, filed July 10, 2026). BIS's October 17, 2023 final rule revised the authorization for SK hynix Semiconductor (China) Ltd. to cover all items subject to the EAR except EUV equipment and specially designed parts, components, software and technology necessary for the development or production of DRAM, and a November 8, 2023 correction removed the separate SK hynix Semiconductor (Wuxi) entry after it merged into that company (Federal Register 88 FR 71478, October 17, 2023, and its November 8, 2023 correction). BIS revoked the authorization effective December 31, 2025 and replaced it with annual approvals, and SK hynix says it received an annual license for 2026 in December 2025 (Federal Register 90 FR 42321, September 2, 2025; SK hynix Form 424B4).
SK hynix announced on March 19, 2024 that it had begun volume production of HBM3E, supplying a customer from late March, seven months after announcing its development, and called itself the first in the industry to mass produce HBM3E; the release names no customer, and its September 26, 2024 release says it delivered the HBM3E 8-layer product to customers in March (SK hynix newsroom, March 19 and September 26, 2024).
SK hynix announced on September 26, 2024 that it had begun mass production of what it called the world's first 12-layer HBM3E, with 36GB of capacity (up from the previous maximum of 24GB from eight 3GB chips) and a memory speed of 9.6 Gbps, six months after delivering the 8-layer product to customers in March; it planned to supply customers within the year, and the release names no customer (SK hynix newsroom, September 26, 2024).
BIS issued an interim final rule effective December 2, 2024 (published December 5) that adds ECCN 3A090.c, covering high bandwidth memory with a memory bandwidth density greater than 2 gigabytes per second per square millimeter, and requires a license to export it to or within Macau or a Country Group D:5 destination; BIS said all HBM stacks in production at the time exceeded that threshold and that the control aims to slow China's indigenous advanced AI chip production. The rule names no company (Federal Register, 89 FR 96790, December 5, 2024).
SK hynix said March 19 it shipped the first 12-layer HBM4 samples to major customers (36GB, more than 2TB/s of bandwidth), with mass production planned for the second half of 2025 after certification; the release names no customer (SK hynix newsroom, March 19, 2025).
SK hynix said on September 12 it had completed HBM4 development and established a mass-production system, with operating speeds above 10Gbps against the JEDEC standard of 8Gbps and 2,048 I/O terminals that double bandwidth; on October 29 it said HBM4 shipments would begin in Q4 2025 with full-scale sales expansion in 2026. Neither release names a customer (SK hynix newsroom, September 12 and October 29, 2025).
SK hynix said on January 28 that large-scale HBM4 production was underway, and on July 29 reported that it began mass shipments of HBM4 in the second quarter of 2026 and will ramp in the second half; neither release names a customer (SK hynix FY2025 results, January 28, 2026; Q2 2026 results, July 29, 2026). Not confirmed in a primary source as of 2026-10-25: a February 2026 start of HBM4 mass production for NVIDIA Rubin, 9.6Gbps stacks and a start six months ahead of plan.