SK Hynix CEO: Memory Chip Shortage Will Persist Into the 2030s
0xBroomberg
SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung said in his first English-language interview that the memory-chip shortage will persist into the 2030s, with customers locking in long-term contracts — a signal that pricing power across the supply chain is shifting from buyers to suppliers.
What makes him confident the shortage lasts that long?
Kwak gave the interview in New York, right after SK Hynix completed its American Depositary Receipt (ADR) offering.
He cited two pillars: the company's internal analysis points to a shortage stretching into the next decade, and customers are signing long-term contracts because "they believe the shortage will last longer."
This means → it is not just a CEO talking up his stock — customers are underwriting the same call with real money.
Whose chips is AI taking?
Massive capital spending by data-center operators has driven up demand for both conventional memory and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) — high-speed memory designed specifically for AI accelerators.
SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, and Micron are the main beneficiaries of the AI wave, and capacity is being routed to data centers first.
In plain terms = AI is siphoning storage capacity away from the rest of the market. PCs, smartphones, and cars cannot get enough chips — the shortage has spread from the data center to the consumer end.
Where does the $26.5 billion go?
SK Hynix sold 177.9 million ADRs at $149 apiece, raising roughly $26.5 billion.
The funds have a clear destination: new fabs plus critical equipment such as EUV lithography machines — tools that etch chip circuits with extreme-ultraviolet light.
In South Korea, the Yongin fab cluster calls for $390 billion in investment, with four plants due by 2033. In the U.S., the company's first facility in Indiana is set for completion in 2028, focused on advanced packaging.
How dominant is SK Hynix right now?
In the global HBM market, SK Hynix holds roughly 51%, Samsung about 26%, and Micron about 23%.
The company's market cap hit $1 trillion in May, making it South Korea's second-largest listed company after Samsung. Its stock has risen roughly 13× since early 2025.
This reflects a market that has already priced in a prolonged shortage — the CEO's explicit call reinforces expectations for its long-term contract pricing power and the pace of capacity expansion.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.