SK Hynix, one of the world's largest memory semiconductor companies, recorded an all-time quarterly net profit on the 29th (local time), but its stock price instead plummeted nearly 10%.

Results that would have been unimaginable just one to two years ago are now being evaluated as falling short of market expectations, demonstrating how much higher investors' standards have risen amid the AI semiconductor boom.

▲ AI Memory Leader SK Hynix, Corporate Value Surging

SK Hynix, a company specializing in memory semiconductors for electronic devices and artificial intelligence (AI) systems, exceeded a market capitalization of 1 trillion dollars on the Korean stock market in late May.

Subsequently, on July 10, it listed on the US Nasdaq market and successfully raised over 26 billion dollars in funds.

Good news seemed to continue.

The SK Group, which controls SK Hynix, announced last week that it would establish a strategic partnership with Nvidia worth 500 billion dollars for next-generation memory supply and AI data center construction, putting concrete shape to the existing agreement.

▲ Quarterly Net Profit of 92.921 Trillion Won…Achieving Record High Results

The subsequently announced second-quarter results were overwhelming.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), SK Hynix recorded a net profit of approximately 93.9 trillion won over three months, yielding profits of approximately 64 billion dollars (approximately 92.921 trillion won). This represented a 13-fold increase compared to the same period last year and exceeded the total net profits recorded over the past five years combined.

▲ Evaluation of Falling Short of Expectations…Concerns About Sustainability of AI Boom Spreading

However, assessments emerged that it fell short of levels some investors had expected, amplifying concerns about whether the AI boom could be sustained for a long period.

SK Hynix's stock price fell as much as 19.6% during the session before closing down 9.6%. Samsung Electronics and Japan's flash memory company Kioxia also saw their stocks decline in tandem.

Kioxia once ranked first in market capitalization on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in June but has since fallen to approximately two-thirds of its peak level.

▲ Expanded AI Data Center Investments…Memory Demand Remains Robust

Large-scale data centers and massive memory semiconductors are necessary to train and operate AI systems.

Most market experts project that memory demand will continue to increase over the coming years.

Consequently, the stock prices of the world's three major memory companies—SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, and US Micron—have risen significantly.

In particular, SK Hynix, which has secured competitiveness in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) field essential for AI computing, has received high investor interest.

▲ Plans to Establish Mega Semiconductor Cluster in South Korea

Last month, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics announced plans to invest over 500 billion dollars in total to establish new semiconductor production bases in southwestern Korea. This was evaluated as part of a production capacity expansion strategy in preparation for the AI era.

▲ Big Tech Also Expanding AI Investments…Planning to Execute 670 Billion Dollars Annually

Four major hyperscale companies in Silicon Valley—Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet (Google)—plan to invest up to 670 billion dollars in AI-related capital expenditures this year.

This was analyzed as evidence that AI infrastructure expansion is still progressing rapidly.

▲ Surging Stock Prices as Burden…Market Sensitive to Growth Slowdown Concerns

However, given SK Hynix's sharp stock price increase since last year, investment sentiment appeared to be greatly shaken by mere signals of possible limits to growth.

Analyses emerged that high valuations react sensitively to even minor negative developments.

▲ New Risk Emerging from Circular Financial Structure in AI Ecosystem

The market also raised concerns about the circular financial structure within the AI industry.

The method by which semiconductor companies support their customers' semiconductor purchases is raising questions about sustainability.

These concerns were amplified again by a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that Nvidia is reviewing financial support measures of approximately 250 billion dollars to help fund OpenAI's data center projects.

▲ Rise of Chinese Memory Companies…Changes in Competitive Landscape

Rapid growth in China's semiconductor industry has also emerged as another concern for investors.

Chinese memory company CXMT, after listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on the 28th, rose to become the company with the highest corporate value on China's mainland stock exchange.

CXMT's stock price rose 12.7% on the 30th, with its market capitalization exceeding 500 billion dollars.

This was not significantly different when compared to SK Hynix's market capitalization of 705 billion dollars based on the Korean stock market.

▲ China Accelerating Localization of Lithography Equipment

China is also making progress in developing lithography equipment essential for semiconductor manufacturing.

While a considerable technological gap still exists compared to the Netherlands' ASML, evaluations have emerged that technology accumulation for localizing key equipment is progressing rapidly.

▲ Securities Analysts Say "Stock Price Decline Excessive…Fundamentals Remain Solid"

Kim Young-gun, a semiconductor analyst at Mirae Asset Securities, evaluated the stock price decline as "excessive adjustment relative to fundamentals."

He analyzed that the AI boom is still continuing based on solid performance, stable orders from major customers such as Google, and rising spot prices for memory, and that supply shortages are also persisting.

Japan's Nomura Securities projected that sales in the DRAM market, a key category of memory semiconductors, will exceed 2 trillion dollars by 2030.

This represents approximately 12-fold growth compared to 2025, with the analysis indicating that AI proliferation will serve as a long-term growth driver for the memory industry.