SK Hynix shares recovered on Thursday after two days of intense selling pressure, as investors looking for buying opportunities stepped in despite lingering worries about AI-related spending trends. The stock traded as high as 5% intraday after opening lower, but pared gains later and was 1.6% higher at 1,423,000 won by the close, underperforming the broader KOSPI index, which rose 2.4%.
The rebound follows a steep two-day selloff that erased nearly 30% of the company's market value. The most dramatic move came on Wednesday, when the Nvidia supplier plunged as much as 20% intraday before recovering to finish the session down 9.6%.
Despite the recent market volatility, SK Hynix reported a record quarterly operating profit that increased more than sixfold from the prior year. Management attributed the results in part to sustained demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI servers, a key growth area for the company.
Still, investors honed in on indications that delays in shipments of certain advanced products curtailed potential price gains for the firm's flagship DRAM chips. Those signals fed concerns that capital spending on AI infrastructure by major technology companies may be beginning to moderate, tempering enthusiasm after the headline earnings figures.
To address cyclical risk in the semiconductor market, SK Hynix said it is accelerating efforts to secure long-term supply agreements with customers, a move intended to smooth revenue swings tied to industry cycles. At the same time, investor sentiment remained constrained by the absence of more detailed plans to return capital to shareholders, even as the company posted record profitability.
Wider sector dynamics also influenced trading. Stronger-than-expected earnings from Samsung Electronics helped lift sentiment across South Korea's semiconductor space on Thursday, encouraging some bargain hunting following the week's sharp declines.
Market context and immediate outlook
The stock's partial recovery on Thursday highlights the tension between underlying earnings momentum—driven by HBM demand—and investor concern over the sustainability of DRAM pricing and AI infrastructure spending. While long-term supply agreements are intended to reduce cyclicality, the lack of specific shareholder return measures left some investors cautious.
Overall, Thursday's session showed selective buying into the dip, but SK Hynix's underperformance relative to the KOSPI indicates lingering caution among market participants.