SK Hynix Shares Drop 11% After Prior Day Surge

SK Hynix’s Seoul-listed shares fell about 11% on Thursday after gaining nearly 13% the previous day. Its Nasdaq depositary receipts fell roughly 9% after a 27% rise in the prior session. The moves came as a sell-off in memory and AI-hardware suppliers spread through Asian and U.S. markets.

U.S. chip and hardware names moved lower in recent sessions, with Micron down about 8% and Dell off nearly 10%. Storage companies including SanDisk and Western Digital also posted sharp declines. The Kospi fell 7.3% on Thursday, and South Korea implemented its first interest-rate increase in more than three years. Regulators announced plans to address volatility linked to single-stock exchange-traded funds.

Market structure amplified the swings. SK Hynix has been treated by many investors as a proxy for AI-related memory demand after its Seoul shares more than tripled earlier in the year. The Nasdaq listing broadened the investor base and opened the stock to options and leveraged exchange-traded products, which can increase price moves in both directions. David Russell, global head of market strategy at TradeStation, cautioned that technology investors may have already “priced in years of growth.”

Analysts pointing to continued tightness in high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, say the chip type is harder to make than standard DRAM and NAND and requires significant production capacity. Barclays analyst Simon Coles initiated coverage of the ADRs with an Overweight rating and a $330 target, forecasting tighter HBM supply into 2027 with limited easing in 2028 and noting SK Hynix’s share of the HBM market exceeds half. IBK Securities raised its target for the Korean shares to 4 million won and predicted further earnings surprises as HBM demand spreads into other memory segments. Hanwha Investment & Securities set a target of 4.3 million won.

Other analysts expressed caution. BNK Investment & Securities set a Hold rating with a 1.85 million won target and warned that hyperscaler infrastructure spending could slow if financing costs rise or AI projects fail to produce expected returns. New factories and packaging facilities now under construction could bring additional capacity in 2027 and 2028, which would affect prices and margins if they come online as planned.

Investors are weighing near-term production limits and strong AI-driven demand against potential policy changes, higher financing costs and the arrival of new capacity. The rapid price swings underscore the market’s sensitivity to changes in demand expectations and the effects of leveraged products on single-stock volatility.