Introducing SK Hynix
SK Hynix Founding
SK Hynix was founded in 1983 as Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd. In the 1980s and 90s, they focused on selling DRAM, and later SDRAM. In 2001, they sold their TFT LCD business for US$650 million, and in the same year, they developed the world’s first 128MB graphics DDR SDRAM.
Hyundai Group Sells Hynix to SK Group
In early 2012, SK Group, South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate, announced the acquisition of a 21.05% stake in Hynix, taking control of the memory chip giant. Hynix then separated from the Hyundai Group and added “SK” to its official name, becoming the SK Hynix we know today.
Acquisition of Intel’s Dalian Plant
In 2020, SK Hynix acquired Intel’s flash memory business and established the subsidiary Solidigm.
SK Hynix to List in the US
SK Hynix (ticker: SKHY) is scheduled to list on Nasdaq on July 10th, priced at $166, issuing ADRs.
SK Hynix will issue 17.79 million new shares on the Nasdaq market via American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), with each 10 ADRs representing one ordinary share. Market estimates suggest this fundraising will be second only to SpaceX’s record-breaking $85.7 billion IPO last month, surpassing Saudi Aramco’s $25.6 billion IPO in 2019, and comparable in size to Alibaba’s 2014 IPO.
Global Memory Market
Global Memory Market Size
A report released by Counterpoint Research on June 24, 2026, indicates that with the rising demand for AI infrastructure, the global memory market size is projected to reach $960 billion in 2026, more than tripling from $230 billion in 2025. The report further predicts that the market size will expand further in 2027, breaking the $1 trillion mark for the first time in history, reaching an estimated $1.4 trillion.
Based on the most recent Q1 2026 data, here’s the global DRAM market ranking by revenue share:
Top 5 DRAM Vendors (Q1 2026)
- Samsung Electronics (South Korea) — ~38-40% market share, the clear volume and revenue leader, with a full DDR5 and HBM product lineupSamsung led the DRAM market with a 38% share in Q1 2026. One source put Samsung’s quarterly revenue at roughly $38 billion, citing sharp sequential growth.
- SK hynix (South Korea) — around 29% share, though other estimates put it closer to 30-32% of overall DRAM revenue. SK hynix is particularly dominant in HBM (high-bandwidth memory), commanding more than 50% of that market.
- Micron Technology (US) — roughly 20% share. As the only major U.S.-based memory manufacturer, Micron holds approximately 20%+ of the global DRAM market, and reported record revenues of $13.6 billion in fiscal Q1 2026, driven by an explosion in data center demand.
- CXMT (ChangXin Memory Technologies, China) — a fast-rising newcomer to the top tier, with roughly 7-8% share and triple-digit month-on-month growth. It’s projected to lead global bit output growth in 2026, and despite export restrictions has successfully launched LPDDR5 and DDR5 products, capturing significant domestic market share.
- Nanya Technology (Taiwan) — the traditional #4/#5 player, though it’s now often displaced by CXMT in current rankings given China’s rapid domestic ramp-up. Smaller Taiwanese/Japanese legacy players (Winbond, etc.) round out the rest of the field.
Top 5 NAND Flash Vendors (Q1 2026)
Based on Q1 2026 data (TrendForce), here’s the global NAND flash ranking by revenue:
- Samsung Electronics (South Korea) — posted US$13.51 billion in NAND Flash revenue, marking a staggering 104.7% QoQ increase—the highest growth rate among the top five—while expanding its revenue market share from 28% to 31.6%. It’s been driven by quarterly contract pricing and a significant increase in server-related bit shipments.
- SK hynix Group (South Korea, includes Solidigm) — secured second place with about US$7.53 billion in revenue, reflecting a 44.6% QoQ increase and bringing its market share to 17.6%. Growth was significantly bolstered by its subsidiary, Solidigm, which benefited from a steady influx of orders for high-capacity QLC enterprise SSDs.
- Kioxia (Japan) — revenue climbed 80% QoQ to US$5.96 billion, retaining its third-place ranking with a 13.9% market share.
- Micron (US) — NAND Flash revenue jumped 96.7% QoQ to US$5.95 billion, allowing its market share to rebound to 13.9%, tying with SanDisk for fourth place.
4/5 (tie). SanDisk (US) — experienced a massive QoQ revenue increase of over 200% in its data center business, with total revenue matching Micron’s at US$5.95 billion, also reflecting a 96.7% QoQ growth and a 13.9% market share.
Honorable mention — the disruptor to watch: YMTC (Yangtze Memory Technologies, China) is knocking on the top-5 door. Its market share climbed to 13 percent in Q1 2026, up from 8 percent in Q1 2025, with revenue surging nearly 445 percent year-over-year, supported by strong demand from Chinese manufacturers and NAND supply shortages that pushed prices higher.
HBM Market
In the first quarter of 2026, South Korean semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix achieved a 95% global market share in high-bandwidth memory (HBM).
SK Hynix dominates memory by AI
SK Hynix’s Turnaround Through HBM
This makes me wonder why SK Hynix, the world’s long-time second-largest memory manufacturer, is going public in the US? Or rather, what makes SK Hynix so special? The answer is HBM, the dedicated memory indispensable for artificial intelligence chips; this is the focus of this article.
HBM Transforms SK Hynix’s Role
In 2022, SK Hynix became the first company to mass-produce HBM3 chips, achieving a single-chip bandwidth of 819GB/s, and securing a core order for NVIDIA’s H100 series. In AI servers, HBM has transformed from a supporting role to a leading one. It is no longer just a high-end memory chip next to the GPU, but a core component that determines the performance, power consumption, and delivery capabilities of AI accelerators.
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