SK hynix said on October 28, 2026, that it expects global memory demand to exceed supply through 2030. The company attributed the outlook to the difficulty of advanced manufacturing and the long time needed to build production facilities, and outlined planned capacity changes for HBM4, NAND and a new facility phase.
The forecast accompanied preliminary third-quarter results: revenue of 104.6155 trillion won, operating profit of 83.3338 trillion won and net income of 39.7756 trillion won, with an 80% operating margin. Revenue rose 328% year over year and operating profit rose 632%. SK hynix said its financial review was unfinished and the figures could change during an independent audit.
An earlier warning came from Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who said on September 15, 2026, that the memory shortage would become more serious in 2027. NeoTeo covered Tan’s warning about a deeper 2027 shortage.
Why SK hynix expects demand to outpace supply
SK hynix pointed to the technical difficulty of leading-edge manufacturing processes and the long lead time for building production facilities. The company also said memory demand was growing faster than supply. Its outlook is a forecast for the global memory market, with demand expected to exceed supply through 2030.
The production plans behind the forecast
SK hynix plans to ramp its M15X facility to maximum capacity by the end of 2026 to increase production of HBM4, or fourth-generation high-bandwidth memory. The company expects HBM4 to surpass HBM3E in both shipment volume and revenue during the fourth quarter of 2026, becoming its mainstream product.
For NAND flash memory, SK hynix plans for its 321-layer process to account for more than half of its domestic production capacity in the fourth quarter of 2026. The company says this will increase supply of high-performance, high-capacity enterprise solid-state drives, or eSSDs.
SK hynix expects Yongin Phase 1 to enter full-scale operation in 2027. It also expects investment to increase significantly that year, while adjusting its scale and timing according to customer demand, product competitiveness, profitability and investment efficiency.
What SK hynix’s customer agreements cover
SK hynix says long-term agreements with 14 major customers, including leading global cloud-service providers, cover more than 50% of its total production capacity for 2027 and 2028. The agreements typically run for five years.
The pricing mechanism reflects market conditions within ranges agreed with customers. That means the contracts set terms for committed supply while allowing prices to move within those agreed ranges as market conditions change.
