[Edaily Reporter Hyera Lee ] On the 3rd, KB Securities raised its target price for SK hynix(000660)to 4.2 million won—up from the previous level—projecting continued earnings improvement driven by expanding global artificial intelligence (AI) investment and a prolonged memory supply shortage.

Kim Dong-won, an analyst at KB Securities, stated, “Global AI investment will enter an acceleration phase starting in the second half of this year, and the memory supply shortage is expected to persist through 2028,” adding, “With the expansion of AI investment, SK hynix’s earnings and stock price uptrend are not yet over.”
Reflecting the outlook for rising memory prices, Analyst Kim revised upward his operating profit estimates for this year and next year, respectively. He analyzed, “While DRAM and NAND wafer production capacity in 2027 will increase by only 7% and 4%, respectively, compared to the previous year, demand is expected to rise by 17% and 19%, respectively, further exacerbating the supply shortage.”

He also forecast that second-quarter earnings would exceed market expectations. KB Securities projected that SK hynix’s second-quarter operating profit would reach 69 trillion won—a 649% year-over-year increase—surpassing market estimates. Furthermore, it projected third-quarter operating profit at 87 trillion won, a 662% year-over-year increase, anticipating that earnings momentum would strengthen in the second half of the year.
Analyst Kim stated, “While memory supply growth will remain limited through 2028, AI memory demand is rapidly expanding across all product lines,” adding, “As the proliferation of Agent AI devices extends to edge devices such as PCs and smartphones, competition to secure memory will intensify starting in the second half of the year.”
He also cited the expansion of global AI investment as a positive factor. “Global AI investment is expected to rise from $800 billion this year to $1.1 trillion next year and reach $1.5 trillion by 2028,” Kim explained. “As monetization across the AI industry gains momentum, the free cash flow of U.S. Big Tech companies is also projected to improve significantly.”
He analyzed, “Memory demand has already increased 100-fold since 2022 and is expected to grow another 100-fold over the next five years,” adding, “AI agents are expected to triple memory demand, while autonomous driving and humanoids are projected to expand it by an additional 10-fold.”
He continued, “The share of memory semiconductors in AI investment is also expected to rise from 14% in 2025 to 50% in 2027,” adding, “The structural improvement in the memory market will continue.”
Researcher Kim noted, “Reflecting this year’s projected memory price growth, we have revised our operating profit estimates for 2026 and 2027 upward to 290 trillion won and 468 trillion won, respectively.”