BusinessJul 6, 2026
Memory Chip Sector Rebounds as SK Hynix Seeks Nasdaq Listing
Memory Markets
Rhea Lobo
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SK Hynix formally kicked off its US listing process on Monday, seeking to sell ADRs at a value of roughly $28B.
The offering comes as the broader memory chip sector bounced back after a bruising week, with Micron, SanDisk, Western Digital, all gaining in Monday premarket trading.
SK Hynix's Seoul-traded stock had already rallied roughly 260% this year, pushing its market cap above $1T.
The company controlled 57% of the global high-bandwidth memory market by revenue as of Q4 2025, making it Nvidia's primary HBM supplier. ADRs are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on July 10.
UBS analyst Nicolas Gaudois raised his DDR contract pricing forecast to +32% quarter-on-quarter in Q3 2026, up from a prior estimate of +17%.
He projects the DRAM industry will remain undersupplied until at least Q2 2028, with bit demand growth of 36.2% in 2027 outpacing supply growth of 19.3%.
UBS now forecasts memory industry revenues reaching $992B in 2026 and $1.76T in 2027. The memory industry is also projected to generate close to $1.2T in free cash flow in 2027.
Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya noted that memory now represents roughly 35% to 40% of cloud AI capital expenditure, two to three times historical levels.
He kept a Buy rating on Micron with a $1,550 price target, describing the recent selloff as a healthy reset rather than a structural change in AI demand.
The same supply crunch that is minting record profits is starting to create pressure. Prices for both DRAM and NAND flash memory chips are up roughly 660% over the past year, according to Bernstein Research.
Apple and Microsoft both hiked consumer product prices recently, citing the memory shortage.
"Demand is way, way ahead of supply, and that gap is wider and wider, and the customers are getting more and more irate and desperate."
Bernstein Research's Mark Newman.
Bernstein analyst Newman flagged one specific risk: memory chip buyers could push governments to ease restrictions on cheaper Chinese memory chips, adding meaningful supply to the market.
Reports indicate Apple is already in talks with Chinese memory chipmakers, even though some are currently blacklisted by the Pentagon. Samsung and SK Hynix have separately announced plans to expand fab capacity over time.
