Market: KOSPI (000660)
Brokerage : Mirae Asset Securities
Analyst : Younggun Kim
Investment Rating : BUY (Maintained)
Target Price : KRW 2,000,000 (Maintained)
Core Momentum : Rising hyperscaler Capex and order backlogs are expected to sustain AI infrastructure investment, while expanding custom HBM deployments and inference CPU infrastructure broaden demand across both HBM and conventional memory.
📊 1. [Valuation & Key Financial Metrics]
- Equity Research Date: May 4, 2026
- Investment Rating: BUY (Maintained) / Target Price: KRW 2,000,000 (Maintained)
- Current Price (as of 26/4/30): KRW 1,286,000 / Upside Potential: 55.5%
- Operating Profit (26F, KRW bn): 278,826 / Consensus Operating Profit (26F, KRW bn): 246,959
- EPS Growth (26F, %): 424.1 / MKT EPS Growth (26F, %): 212.0
- P/E (26F, x): 4.2 / MKT P/E (26F, x): 7.7 / KOSPI: 6,598.87
- Market Capitalization (KRW bn): 916,535 / Shares Outstanding (mn shares): 713 / Float Ratio (%): 75.1
- Foreign Ownership (%): 53.0 / Beta (12M) Daily Return: 1.60
- 52-Week Low / High (KRW): 177,500 / 1,300,000
- FY 2026F Estimates: Revenue KRW 355,195 bn, Operating Profit KRW 278,826 bn, Net Income KRW 220,736 bn, EPS KRW 308,999, ROE 96.0%, P/E 4.2x, P/B 2.7x, Dividend Yield 0.3%
- FY 2027F Estimates: Revenue KRW 507,470 bn, Operating Profit KRW 398,117 bn, Net Income KRW 305,392 bn, EPS KRW 428,499, ROE 62.3%, P/E 3.0x, P/B 1.4x, Dividend Yield 0.6%
🚀 2. [Market Opportunities & Business Outlook]
- Total 2026 Capex for global hyperscalers has been revised upward to $806B (YoY +73.0%), with investments expected to expand further into 2027, making a sharp downturn in Capex unlikely given concrete metrics shared regarding AI business performance.
- Microsoft Azure’s 1Q26 order backlog surged to $627B (YoY +99%), and Google Cloud’s backlog jumped to $467B (QoQ +93%), while Meta raised its 2026 Capex to up to $145B.
- Amazon secured customer commitments for a substantial portion of its $200B 2026 Capex plan.
- Demand for big tech custom ASIC HBM is also favorable: Microsoft’s MAIA 200 adopts 216GB of HBM3E, while Google’s training TPU v8t features 216GB (+13%) and inference v8i features 288GB (+50%).
- Meta is expanding deployments of AMD chips (presumed inference CPUs) to supplement NVIDIA systems, and Amazon’s massive contracts for Graviton CPUs indicate an acceleration in building inference CPU infrastructure, which naturally accompanies conventional memory demand.
- The industry trend toward long-term supply agreements (LTAs) is spreading, as exemplified by peer SanDisk securing a multi-year LTA and disclosing a massive order backlog of at least $42B with financial guarantees.
- Projected operating profits for 2Q26F, 26F, and 27F are estimated at KRW 65 trillion (QoQ +72%), KRW 279 trillion (YoY +491%), and KRW 398 trillion (YoY +43%) respectively.
📝 Editor’s Comment (Perspective & Thesis Verification)
The analyst evaluates SK hynix as a primary beneficiary of aggressive Capex upward revisions by global hyperscalers and surging demand for big tech HBM and inference CPUs. This perspective highlights that solid order backlogs and expanding long-term supply agreements (LTAs) underpin a prolonged structural up-cycle with resilient earnings growth.
To determine whether this investment thesis is actively unfolding, key monitoring items include tracking whether big tech’s scaled-up Capex execution and order backlogs translate into actual financial results. In addition, it is necessary to verify the expansion of big tech custom ASIC HBM3E shipments (such as Google v8t/v8i) and the concurrent rise in conventional memory demand driven by inference CPU buildouts. These developments can be tracked through corporate earnings releases, official IR materials, and regulatory filings.
📢 Disclaimer & Source
Source: This content has been structured and newly written based on officially disclosed financial facts and data from brokerage reports.
Investment Risk Notice: This content is provided for informational and linguistic reference purposes only. Under no circumstances does it constitute financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any specific securities. All investment decisions and financial responsibilities rest entirely with the investor.
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