SK Hynix (000660) hit a record high on Wednesday, jumping more than 6% intraday to reach 1.3 million won.
According to the Korea Exchange, SK Hynix was trading at 1.298 million won as of 11:28 a.m., up 76,000 won (6.22%) from the previous session. The stock touched 1.3 million won intraday, marking an all-time high.
Its market capitalization also surpassed 900 trillion won, reaching around 925.8 trillion won. Amid the ongoing tug-of-war between the United States and Iran over a second round of negotiations, the stock market is focusing on earnings season rather than geopolitical issues. SK Hynix posted a record operating profit of 37.6103 trillion won in the first quarter of this year, with an operating margin of 71.5%.
U.S. semiconductor companies are also reporting record earnings on the back of expanding artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. On Oct. 24, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged 4.32% to close at 10,513.66, an all-time high. It has risen for 18 straight sessions.
Nvidia closed 4.32% higher at $208.27. Intel's shares soared 24% after the company reported surprise earnings driven by the AI boom. Intel's revenue last quarter reached $13.58 billion, beating the market consensus of $12.4 billion. Earnings per share came in at 29 cents, far exceeding the market estimate of 1 cent.
Kyobo Securities raised its target price for SK Hynix to 1.9 million won, forecasting annual revenue of 330 trillion won and operating profit of 245 trillion won this year. Choi Bo-young, an analyst at Kyobo Securities, said, "With the spread of agentic AI driving broad-based demand expansion for DRAM and NAND and structural supply shortages continuing, we expect earnings improvements through steep price-hike momentum in the second half as well."
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics (005930) was trading at 224,000 won, up 4,500 won (2.05%) from the previous session.
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