SK Hynix Heads Into July 29 Earnings With a Record ~75% Operating Margin in Sight
Analysts expect SK Hynix to post a record operating margin near 74.6% for Q2, with revenue up roughly 260% year on year on surging memory prices — making the July 29 report the AI trade's next binary catalyst.
All eyes in the AI supply chain turn to Seoul next week: SK Hynix reports second-quarter results on July 29, and the consensus numbers are unlike anything the memory industry has produced.
What analysts expect
- Margins: Korea Investment & Securities forecasts a record operating margin of 74.6 percent — territory normally reserved for software monopolies, not DRAM makers.
- Revenue: Visible Alpha consensus sees revenue up roughly 260 percent year over year, with DRAM up 265 percent and NAND up 330 percent, driven overwhelmingly by price.
- The surprise inside: Conventional DRAM is the rocket — expected up 448 percent to about $35 billion — while HBM revenue grows a comparatively modest 32 percent to $6.1 billion as the HBM mix weighs on average selling price growth.
Why it's a binary catalyst
SK Hynix shares have whipsawed violently this month — rocketing 14 percent in a single session last week after a brutal selloff, while its new US listing added another layer of volatility. With hyperscaler capex guidance exploding (Alphabet just guided to as much as $205 billion), the memory supercycle thesis looks intact — but at these valuations, traders will parse every word on HBM4 shipments, long-term agreements and 2027 pricing.
The wider read
The report is effectively the Asia-side mirror of last night's US earnings: Alphabet and Tesla showed what the AI buildout costs; SK Hynix will show who collects. If record hyperscaler spending is landing anywhere, it lands first in Icheon. A strong print validates the entire Asian memory complex — Samsung, Micron, Kioxia — heading into the busiest earnings fortnight of the year.
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