SK Hynix to announce earnings tonight, rumors of up to KRW 60 trillion shareholder return draw attention.

BlockBeats news, October 27 — SK Hynix will release its third-quarter 2026 financial results after the U.S. market close on Tuesday, and will simultaneously disclose a new shareholder return plan. Market focus includes not only high-bandwidth memory (HBM) demand and profitability, but also whether the company will launch a large-scale special dividend. Memory manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and Japan's Kioxia will also report earnings successively.

AI infrastructure demand continues to drive up the prosperity of memory chips. KB Securities analysts estimate that more than 70% of the memory planned for production next year by South Korea's two major memory chip manufacturers has already been covered by five-year supply agreements signed with large tech companies. However, as the market begins to worry about the returns on AI capital expenditure and financing costs, investors are paying closer attention to order quality, the sustainability of future demand, and the pace of capacity expansion.

Regarding shareholder returns, South Korean media previously reported that SK Hynix is considering issuing a special dividend of about 16 trillion won (about $12 billion); other reports said the scale of additional shareholder returns could reach as high as 60 trillion won (about $45 billion). None of the above amounts has been officially confirmed by the company.

Previously, SK Hynix announced the buyback and cancellation of 40 trillion won worth of treasury shares, and plans to use more than 50% of free cash flow from 2025 to 2027 for shareholder returns. This earnings report and future demand guidance will become an important basis for the market to judge whether the AI memory chip super-cycle can continue.