SK Hynix Attracts Record Fund Manager Bets
Nobody can build enough of what the world needs right now. That problem has a name: high-bandwidth memory. And one company controls more of it than anyone else. Top tech funds are moving to buy SK Hynix directly as confidence grows that the AI memory shortage will last for years.
The SK Hynix memory chip crunch is no longer just a supply chain story. It is now one of the most-watched trades in global finance.
How SK Hynix’s Chip Crunch Began
SK Hynix shares have surged more than 248% year to date. Samsung Electronics has gained about 165%, and Micron is up more than 210%. Wedbush Securities managing director Dan Ives added SK Hynix to his IVES exchange-traded fund.
“When you look at what SK’s doing, they’re going to be part of this memory super cycle coming out,” Ives said. “They’re in the winner’s circle.” In the fourth quarter of 2025, SK Hynix controlled 57% of the global HBM market share by revenue. Samsung and Micron followed with 22% and 21%, respectively.
SK Hynix joined the $1 trillion club on May 27, 2026. Micron crossed the same threshold the same week. SK Hynix rose 9.3% in South Korea on Wednesday, taking its 12-month gain to more than 1,000%, becoming the third Asian company to join the $1 trillion club after Samsung Electronics earlier this month.
Big Tech Drives SK Hynix Chip Demand
Major global technology companies are reportedly offering rare financial backing to SK Hynix in a bid to secure critical memory chip supply as the AI boom intensifies pressure on an already constrained semiconductor market.
The offers are considered highly unusual in the memory chip sector, where customers traditionally purchase components rather than fund manufacturing expansion. One source described available production capacity as “essentially zero.”
Global Big Tech firms, including Nvidia, Google, and Amazon, are offering to fund SK Hynix’s production lines and the purchase of EUV equipment amid an unprecedented memory supply crunch.
Big Tech firms have made direct investment proposals regarding the first fab, Y1, which SK Hynix is building at the Yongin semiconductor cluster. Despite strong customer interest, SK Hynix is reportedly cautious about accepting such deals due to concerns over pricing pressure, buyer dependency, and regulatory scrutiny.
Why the Shortage Runs Deep Into 2027?
The three leading makers of high-bandwidth memory now sit at the chokepoint of the global AI buildout, with their products forming a critical bottleneck for data-centre expansion. Investors and analysts expect memory shortages to last through 2027, giving them unusual pricing power over the world’s largest technology companies.
Even with their rapid ascent this year, SK Hynix shares trade at about seven times one-year forward earnings, compared with 27 times for the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
That relative discount is what makes the trade attractive to funds. The market has re-rated memory stocks upward, but the valuation premium for AI chip exposure remains far below that of semiconductor peers. As long as every AI data centre that comes online needs HBM chips that do not yet exist, that gap has room to close.
