SK Hynix Inc. unveiled plans to return about $45 billion more to shareholders after profit surged a stronger-than-expected seven-fold, reflecting the resilience of an AI infrastructure rollout that’s propelling memory chip demand.

The world’s second-biggest memory chipmaker reaffirmed it expects shortages of components crucial to Nvidia Corp. accelerators to persist through at least 2030, propping up prices. On Wednesday, it reported an operating profit of 83.3 trillion won for the September quarter, beating projections by more than 7%. And the company laid out plans to return 60 trillion won to shareholders in the remainder of the fiscal year through buybacks and dividends, on top of a previously announced 40 trillion won. Much of that stems from gains it locked in after a sale of stock in Kioxia Holdings Corp. earlier this year.

SK Hynix’s shares rose more than 4% in early Seoul trading. The result bolsters hopes for sustained profits from a surge in demand for memory from artificial intelligence developers building data centers. That’s come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks because of challenges in financing and setting up ambitious infrastructure projects.

SK Hynix and larger rival Samsung Electronics Co. are among the biggest beneficiaries of the AI frenzy, supplying high-bandwidth memory to the likes of Nvidia while capitalizing on soaring prices of conventional memory chips. Its operating margins remain historically elevated, reflecting a persistent supply crunch

Click here for a liveblog on the results.

Memory now constitutes roughly a third of all expenses related to AI data centers, according to research by Macquarie, and SK Hynix plays a key role in that business because of its close collaboration with Nvidia. That share of overall computing-hardware spending is expected to rise in the coming years as HBM prices are set to more than double in 2027, Macquarie said.

SK Hynix has prioritized long-term contracts with customers including Nvidia. Like Samsung and Micron Technology Inc., it’s shifted production in recent years toward HBM, tightening supply of conventional memory.

“While HBM is seeing a price appreciation, the sharp surge in earnings is attributed to the rapid price hikes in conventional DRAM and NAND,” said MS Hwang, director at Counterpoint Research. “Quarterly earnings have not yet reached their peak and the upward trajectory will likely sustain at least through 2027.”

The additional shareholder payouts could provide another catalyst for the stock price after the chipmaker abandoned a potential $10 billion U.S. listing of its Solidigm unit after shareholder opposition and regulatory scrutiny. Solidigm is in talks with the U.S. Commerce Department to invest $45 billion in a new chip plant on American soil, Bloomberg News reported.

Solidigm, a producer of flash memory chips, was the latest marquee name to shelve an initial public offering — joining data-center operators Firmus Grid Ltd. and AirTrunk as mounting AI-bubble concerns rattle global markets.

(With assistance from Denny Thomas, Youkyung Lee and Debby Wu.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.