- SK Hynix fell 14.65% to 1.55 million won in Seoul, while Samsung Electronics lost 13.39% and the KOSPI dropped 10.84%. [1] - The decline followed a 7.5% fall in SK Hynix’s Nasdaq-listed shares and a nearly 5% drop in Nvidia during Monday’s U.S. session. [2] - SK Hynix’s latest IR post before the close was an earnings-call invitation, not a financial release. Results are scheduled for July 29. [3][4] - Analysts expect record second-quarter operating profit, while server DRAM contract prices are still forecast to rise in the third quarter. [5][6]
SK Hynix shares closed 14.65% lower at 1.55 million won in Seoul on Tuesday, their second-largest decline of 2026, as a global semiconductor sell-off reached South Korea’s two dominant memory-chip producers. Samsung Electronics fell 13.39% to 220,000 won, helping drag the KOSPI down 10.84%.[1][7]
The move was not tied to a new SK Hynix earnings release. Instead, investors reacted to concerns about China’s expanding semiconductor capabilities, the financing behind large AI data-center projects and the risk that cheaper Chinese AI models could restrain future hardware demand. SK Hynix’s official investor-relations newsroom listed an invitation to Wednesday’s earnings call as its newest IR item before the Seoul close.[2][3]
Wall Street’s chip retreat spread across Asia #
SK Hynix entered Tuesday’s session under pressure after its U.S.-listed shares fell 7.5% to $143.02 on Monday, their first close below the $149 initial public offering price since the company’s Nasdaq debut earlier in July. Nvidia dropped nearly 5%, while the Philadelphia semiconductor index lost 2.2%.[2]
The selling broadened across Asian semiconductor markets. Japanese memory producer Kioxia fell 18.33%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 3.95% lower. Samsung and SK Hynix together account for nearly half of the KOSPI, magnifying their effect on South Korea’s benchmark.[2][8]
One catalyst was a report that Chinese companies had begun producing domestic deep-ultraviolet lithography equipment, which could eventually help Chinese chipmakers reduce their dependence on imported tools. The report did not disclose important details, including the companies involved, equipment performance or commercialization timelines, according to analysts cited by Reuters.[2]
ChangXin Memory Technologies’ strong Shanghai trading debut added a more direct concern for memory suppliers. Investors treated the Chinese DRAM maker’s new access to capital as a possible long-term threat to commodity-memory pricing. Analysts said CXMT is becoming a genuine competitor in conventional DRAM but remains years behind the Korean producers in high-bandwidth memory.[2]
A separate Wall Street Journal report, cited by Reuters, said Nvidia could provide a roughly $250 billion financial backstop for an OpenAI data-center project. That raised questions about whether hardware suppliers may assume more financing risk to support customer spending. SK Hynix is particularly sensitive to changes in AI investment sentiment because it supplies high-bandwidth memory used with Nvidia accelerators.[2]
The sell-off arrived before record earnings #
SK Hynix is scheduled to release second-quarter results at 9 a.m. Korea time on Wednesday, July 29. A consensus compiled from 14 South Korean brokerages projects 84.1 trillion won in revenue and a record 64.1 trillion won in operating profit, with an operating margin of roughly 75% to 77%.[4][5]
The forecasts show why Tuesday’s decline was a repricing of future expectations rather than a response to reported quarterly results. KB Securities analyst Kim Dong-won estimated that sales to global technology companies and AI data-center operators would account for about 70% of SK Hynix’s second-quarter revenue, giving the company substantial exposure to hyperscaler investment plans.[5]
Some analysts had lowered estimates before Tuesday, but the identified revisions did not coincide with the session’s sell-off. Korea Investment & Securities previously projected second-quarter operating profit of 60.4 trillion won, below the broader consensus, and reduced its 2026 and 2027 forecasts. Mirae Asset Securities had also lowered its quarterly estimate after reducing assumptions for DRAM and NAND average selling prices.[6]
Those revisions reflected more conservative pricing and long-term contract assumptions, rather than a same-day company warning. SK Hynix’s earnings report will provide the first company-level test of those assumptions since its U.S. listing.[3][6]
Memory prices remain supportive, but increases are slowing #
Industry pricing data still points to a tight memory market. TrendForce expects server DRAM contract prices to increase 13% to 18% sequentially in the third quarter as cloud providers continue securing supply for 2027. That follows its forecast for conventional DRAM contract prices to rise 58% to 63% and NAND prices to increase 70% to 75% during the second quarter.[9][10]
The pace of price increases is expected to slow, partly because several U.S. cloud providers have signed multiyear supply agreements that limit how quickly manufacturers can raise prices. TrendForce expects third-quarter increases to fall more heavily on customers without long-term agreements and on purchases exceeding contracted volumes.[9]
Samsung’s preliminary guidance illustrates the strength of the current memory cycle. The company projected second-quarter sales of approximately 171 trillion won and operating profit of 89.4 trillion won. Samsung is scheduled to issue full results on Thursday, July 30, one day after SK Hynix.[11][12]
SK Hynix’s report on Wednesday will show whether record memory profitability and firm contract pricing are enough to offset investors’ concerns about Chinese supply and the durability of AI infrastructure spending.
Companies mentioned #
Further sources #
[1] Yonhap News Agency, “Seoul shares crash over 10 pct on heavy tech selloff amid … ↗ [2] Reuters, “Asian chip stocks slide as China competition fears rattle AI trade,” … ↗
[[3] SK Hynix Newsroom, investor-relations announcements, accessed July 28, 2026. ↗](https://news.skhynix.com/en/category/ir/)
[[4] Korea Exchange, SK Hynix second-quarter 2026 results presentation scheduled for… ↗](https://kind.krx.co.kr/corpgeneral/irschedule.do?irSeq=45179&method=searchIRScheduleDetail)
[[5] Yonhap News Agency, “SK hynix expected to post record 64.1 tln won in Q2 operat… ↗](https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20260726000800320)
[6] TrendForce, “SK hynix Set to Post Record Operating Margin in Q2, as HBM Mix Wei… ↗+6 more
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