Market: KOSPI (000660)
Brokerage : Mirae Asset Securities
Analyst : Younggun Kim
Investment Rating : BUY (Maintained)
Target Price : KRW 2,000,000 (Upgraded)
Core Momentum : The shift from AI training toward inference and agentic AI is expected to accelerate server CPU demand and expand conventional DRAM and LPDDR requirements, while next-generation LPDDR6 adoption provides an additional high-value memory growth opportunity.
📊 1. [Valuation & Key Financial Metrics]
- Equity Research Date: April 28, 2026
- Investment Rating: BUY (Maintained) / Target Price (Upgraded): KRW 2,000,000
- Current Price (as of 26/4/27): KRW 1,292,000 / Upside Potential: 54.8%
- Operating Profit (26F, KRW bn): 279,225 / Consensus Operating Profit (26F, KRW bn): 241,796
- EPS Growth (26F, %): 395.8 / MKT EPS Growth (26F, %): 203.0
- P/E (26F, x): 4.4 / MKT P/E (26F, x): 7.9 / KOSPI: 6,615.03
- Market Capitalization: KRW 920,811 billion / Shares Outstanding (mn shares): 713 / Float Ratio (%): 75.0
- Foreign Ownership (%): 53.1 / Beta (12M) Daily Return: 1.60
- 52-Week Low / High (KRW): 177,500 / 1,292,000
- FY 2026F Estimates: Revenue KRW 355,195 bn, Operating Profit KRW 279,225 bn, Net Income KRW 208,794 bn, EPS KRW 292,281, ROE 93.3%, P/E 4.4x, P/B 2.8x, Dividend Yield 0.3%
- FY 2027F Estimates: Revenue KRW 564,125 bn, Operating Profit KRW 459,335 bn, Net Income KRW 349,985 bn, EPS KRW 491,067, ROE 69.9%, P/E 2.6x, P/B 1.4x, Dividend Yield 0.6%
🚀 2. [Market Opportunities & Business Outlook]
- The target price has been raised by 20% to KRW 2.0 million (from KRW 1,660,000), applying the global pure memory peer average P/B multiple of 3.4x to the 12-month forward BPS of KRW 601,967 (26F basis).
- Until 1Q26, margin surges were accompanied by ASP increases amid limited shipments due to cost constraints, but volume growth is set to accelerate starting in 2Q, driving continuous top-line expansion. Estimated operating profits for 2Q26F, 26F, and 27F are KRW 64.4 trillion (QoQ +71%), KRW 279 trillion (YoY +492%), and KRW 459 trillion (YoY +65%), respectively.
- Google’s training-focused TPU v8t expanded HBM3E capacity from 192GB to 216GB, while the inference-focused TPU v8i increased HBM3E by +50% to 288GB compared to v7, alongside a 3x expansion in SRAM to 384MB, underscoring rising memory dependency in inference workloads.
- As AI workloads transition from training to inference and agentic AI, the GPU-to-CPU attachment ratio is rising from 8:1 to 4:1 and 1:1 or higher, driving strong server CPU demand that directly translates into conventional DRAM and LPDDR requirements.
- NVIDIA’s transition from Vera to its next-generation CPU (expected as Rosa) increases the probability of LPDDR6 adoption, following SK hynix’s introduction of 16Gb LPDDR6 DRAM based on the 1c nm process at ISSCC 2026, achieving a peak transfer speed of 14.4Gb/s/pin.
📝 Editor’s Comment (Perspective & Thesis Verification)
The analyst evaluates SK hynix not merely as an HBM beneficiary, but as a core enterprise capturing exploding server CPU and LPDDR demand amid the proliferation of agentic AI. With ROE approaching 90% and P/B standing at a modest 2.x level, market focus should shift away from basic growth rates toward margin sustainability and structural valuation re-rating.
To determine whether this investment thesis is actively unfolding, key monitoring items include tracking whether second-quarter volume growth materializes alongside the projected KRW 64.4 trillion operating profit. In addition, it is necessary to verify changes in the GPU-to-CPU attachment ratio driven by advanced AI workloads and examine conventional memory mix improvements from next-generation standards like LPDDR6. These developments can be tracked through corporate earnings reports and official IR disclosures.
📢 Disclaimer & Source
Source: This content has been structured and newly written based on officially disclosed financial facts and data from brokerage reports.
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