Park Sung-moon

SK Hynix is poised to benefit from the HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) premium cycle. The company's aggressive Long-Term Agreement (LTA) structure gives it upside exposure while locking in customers, unlike Micron's floor-heavy contracts. SK Group's wholehearted push into AI Data Centers (AIDC) creates potential backdoor GPU-HBM deals with NVIDIA, securing both supply and pricing. DRAM demand is currently 17% short of supply (vs 6% in 2025), and hardware lead times of 3+ years mean pricing power remains strong. The AI capex super-cycle is still early, and the recent HBM-to-DRAM premium compression due to LTAs is a healthy stabilization, not a bearish signal.

Samsung Electronics, as the only player with a full value chain from memory to foundry to packaging, also stands to gain from the HBM and memory upcycle. Although SK Hynix currently leads in HBM market share, the overall DRAM shortage and AI-driven demand tailwind support Samsung's share price. The HBM premium re-rating eventually flows to both major Korean memory makers.