SK Hynix shares surged over 6% during the Asian trading session on June 22, reaching 2.944 million won at their intraday peak and establishing a historic high. The advance pushed the company's market value past 2,000 trillion won, with the stock closing the session at 2.906 million won, up 5.14%, corresponding to a market capitalization of approximately 2,075 trillion won. The Hong Kong-listed Southern 2x Leveraged Long SK Hynix ETF also strengthened considerably, with intraday gains expanding to 18% at one point and trading at 190.85 HKD.

The rally is fundamentally driven by accelerating demand for high-bandwidth memory stemming from rapid expansion in AI infrastructure investment. On June 18, SK Hynix announced the delivery of 12-layer stacked HBM4E engineering samples to major customers. The samples feature a peak rate of 16Gbps per pin, represent an energy efficiency improvement exceeding 20% compared to the previous-generation HBM4, offer a capacity of 48GB, and incorporate MR-MUF technology. These technical milestones underscore the company's competitive positioning in premium memory markets. SK Hynix's strategic standing was further reinforced on June 8 when Nvidia announced a multi-year joint research and development partnership with the company, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang publicly describing SK Hynix as Nvidia's "largest memory partner."

SK Hynix's financial performance reflects the surge in demand. In the first quarter of 2026, the company reported revenue of 52.58 trillion won, representing 198% year-on-year growth, while operating profit surged 405% year-on-year to 37.61 trillion won. Institutions generally expect second-quarter operating profit to reach between 60 trillion and 70 trillion won, with DRAM and NAND contract prices potentially rising by an additional 50% to 70% quarter-on-quarter.

Regarding the company's U.S. expansion, media reports indicate that SK Hynix could list on Nasdaq as early as August, with the SEC potentially approving its ADR application this week. The company had previously confirmed its plan to issue ADRs within 2026, though the scale and specific timeline remain undisclosed.

The improving outlook has prompted major brokerages to aggressively raise target prices. Daiwa Securities raised its target price from 1.67 million won to 3.60 million won while maintaining a Buy rating. KB Securities lifted its target price to 3.00 million won, and iM Securities raised its target from 2.76 million won to 3.50 million won.