SK Hynix shares surged 15% on Wednesday after Samsung Electronics projected first-quarter earnings well above market estimates. The move lifted South Korea’s chip sector and sharpened focus on SK Hynix, which is due to report its own January-to-March results later this month. Strong demand for AI data-center hardware, rising memory prices, and tighter supply set the tone for both stocks.
Samsung Electronics said first-quarter operating profit likely reached 57.2 trillion won, up from 6.69 trillion won a year earlier. The forecast also topped the 40.6 trillion won expected by analysts. Revenue is seen rising 68% to 133 trillion won for the quarter.
The guidance pointed to stronger conditions in memory chips as demand from AI infrastructure kept supply tight. Global technology companies continued to buy advanced chips for AI servers and data centers, and that pushed prices higher across key memory products. Higher prices then supported margins in Samsung’s semiconductor business.
Samsung shares rose 7.12% to 210,500 won, based on the market chart. The gain came after the company’s earnings preview and added momentum to the wider chip rally.
The market reaction showed that investors viewed Samsung’s results as a sector-wide signal, not only a company-specific event.
SK Hynix shares climbed 12% to 1,033,000 won, outperforming Samsung and the broader market. The rally came before the company released its own first-quarter results, which are scheduled for later this month.
Investors appeared to expect that the same market conditions supporting Samsung would also lift SK Hynix earnings.
SK Hynix is the world’s second-largest memory-chip maker after Samsung Electronics. It has a strong position in memory products used in AI systems, especially high-bandwidth memory, which remains central to AI accelerator demand. This link to AI infrastructure helped drive the strong move in its share price.
The gains also followed a forecast revision from Korea Investment & Securities. The brokerage raised its full-year operating profit estimate for SK Hynix by 28% to 216 trillion won. It said stronger-than-expected price increases in both DRAM and NAND chips supported the higher forecast. The new estimate stands at more than four times the company’s 2025 figure.
The latest moves in Samsung and SK Hynix shares came as analysts tracked a stronger pricing cycle in memory chips. Research firm TrendForce expects contract DRAM prices to rise by more than 50% in the current quarter as supply shortages continue. This points to another period of firm pricing for memory producers.
Meritz Securities analyst Kim Sunwoo said, “As customers anticipated further increases, actual contract prices came in higher, leading to the beat.” The comment linked Samsung’s stronger quarter directly to higher contract prices, which remain one of the clearest signs of demand strength in the sector.
Samsung also benefited from a weaker South Korean won, which has fallen to a near 17-year low against the US dollar. This currency move can increase repatriated earnings for exporters. With Samsung already posting a stronger-than-expected forecast, attention has now turned to SK Hynix’s upcoming earnings report for confirmation that higher DRAM and NAND prices, along with AI-related demand, supported its quarter as well.
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