SK Hynix ADR Shares Climb Today as Nvidia Warns Global Memory Chip Shortages Could Persist Through 2028

SEOUL, South Korea — Shares of South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix climbed Thursday, with its Nasdaq-listed American depositary receipts rising 2.57% to $162.08, after Nvidia’s latest earnings report reaffirmed strong demand for artificial intelligence hardware while flagging memory chips as one of the industry’s biggest supply constraints.

The ADR gained $4.07 in Thursday’s trading session, extending a rally that began after Nvidia released its fiscal second-quarter results Wednesday evening. SK Hynix’s Korea-listed shares also surged during Thursday’s session in Seoul, where the stock is one of two chip heavyweights driving broader gains across the country’s benchmark index.

Nvidia’s memory warning becomes a tailwind

Nvidia reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $96.22 billion, up 106% year over year, and guided toward $108 billion in third-quarter sales, according to Invezz. More significant for Korean chipmakers than the headline growth figures was Nvidia’s disclosure that memory chips have become one of its most pressing supply constraints, with the company warning that shortages of high-bandwidth memory and standard DRAM chips could persist through fiscal 2028.

That warning translated directly into a bullish read for SK Hynix and its main domestic rival, Samsung Electronics. Both companies rallied sharply in Seoul trading Thursday, with Samsung rising as much as 3.3% and SK Hynix gaining 5.5% on the local exchange, helping push South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index back toward the 7,000 level for the first time in seven sessions, according to Invezz.

Why tight supply benefits memory makers

The logic driving investor enthusiasm is straightforward: if artificial intelligence accelerator demand continues climbing while the supply of DRAM and high-bandwidth memory chips needed to build those systems remains scarce, memory manufacturers like SK Hynix stand to benefit from both higher shipment volumes and greater pricing power. Analysts at Invezz described Nvidia’s memory shortage warning as “the cleanest read-through for Hynix,” noting that continued AI accelerator demand paired with constrained memory supply supports exactly the kind of volume growth and pricing leverage that defines SK Hynix’s business.

SK Hynix has positioned itself as the dominant supplier in the high-bandwidth memory market that feeds Nvidia’s most advanced AI processors. According to Counterpoint Research data cited by The Motley Fool, SK Hynix held a 58% share of the global HBM market in the first quarter of 2026, with demand for its products intense enough to push operating margins to 76% in a recent quarter.

A deepening partnership with Nvidia

Thursday’s rally builds on an already close relationship between SK Hynix and Nvidia. In late July, Nvidia and SK Hynix’s parent company, SK Group, announced a long-term AI infrastructure partnership valued at more than $500 billion, which included agreements for SK Hynix to supply and co-develop next-generation high-bandwidth memory specifically for Nvidia’s AI computing platforms, according to The Motley Fool. That deal provided SK Hynix with multi-year visibility into demand tied directly to the world’s leading AI chip designer, reducing its historical exposure to the boom-and-bust cycles that have traditionally characterized the memory chip industry.

SK Hynix has also been actively expanding its manufacturing footprint to meet the anticipated demand. The company recently disclosed plans to invest 21.6 trillion won, roughly $15.07 billion, in a new production facility in Yongin, South Korea, alongside a separate partnership with SanDisk to develop next-generation high-bandwidth flash memory technology.

A broader rally across memory stocks

SK Hynix’s gains this week are part of a wider rally across the memory chip sector. Shares of SanDisk and Micron Technology also jumped sharply in recent sessions, driven by the same combination of AI-fueled demand and constrained supply. SanDisk climbed 6% in one recent session while Micron gained 5%, with SK Hynix rallying alongside the group, according to Yahoo Finance.

A stock that still trades at a discount

Despite its strong performance, some analysts argue SK Hynix remains relatively inexpensive given its central role in the AI supply chain. The stock’s forward price-to-earnings ratio sits at roughly 8, based on consensus 2026 earnings estimates, according to Leverage Shares, a valuation that many analysts view as low relative to the company’s growth trajectory and market position. The average analyst price target tracked by Investing.com sits roughly 20% above recent trading levels, reflecting continued bullishness on the stock even after its substantial gains over the past year.

Not without risk

Analysts caution that SK Hynix’s fortunes remain closely tied to the broader AI capital expenditure cycle, meaning any slowdown in spending by major technology companies could quickly reverse the current dynamic. Invezz identified this as the key risk facing the stock: if AI capital spending slows faster than memory supply constraints ease, the pricing power currently benefiting SK Hynix could erode rapidly, alongside softening shipment volumes.

The stock has also shown volatility even on seemingly positive news in the past. Following the announcement of its $500 billion partnership with Nvidia and SK Group in July, SK Hynix shares initially sold off nearly 10% despite the long-term significance of the deal, according to StocksToTrade, before recovering as investors digested the multi-year demand visibility the agreement provided.

With Nvidia’s latest results reinforcing expectations of sustained AI infrastructure spending and continued memory scarcity, attention now turns to how SK Hynix’s own upcoming earnings reports will reflect that dynamic in concrete terms. Foreign investors, who had been net sellers in sessions leading up to Nvidia’s earnings, returned as buyers of Korean chip stocks Thursday, according to Seoul Economic Daily, a shift analysts described as reflecting renewed confidence in the medium- to long-term demand visibility now facing the country’s largest chipmakers heading into the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium later this week.