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SKHY · Forward model · DRAM (including HBM) · Bear case

What has to happen in DRAM (including HBM)

Model as of

This page changes DRAM (including HBM) inside the complete SKHY model. Every other vertical, corporate programme and valuation assumption stays in the selected portfolio case.

SKHY forward model
Horizon
Consolidated fair value $75.34 all other verticals held in this portfolio case
Final-quarter revenue $47.97B 78% of company revenue
Explicit segment contribution $315.95B EBITDA less segment capex, before corporate items

The cycle behaves like every previous one, and this company's own filed history is the evidence: revenue was W5,088,111m in 2023 Q1 against W79,318,746m in 2026 Q2, and in 2023 Q3 it reported an operating loss of W1.792 trillion on a negative 20% operating margin - four consecutive loss-making quarters. NAND revenue fell 31% quarter on quarter as recently as 2025 Q1. The long-term agreements cover around ten customers but disclose no volume floor and no price floor, so nothing in the record prevents a repeat. Here revenue peaks at $86.3bn a quarter in 2028 Q1 and falls to $61.4bn by 2031 Q2, with the EBITDA margin ending at 36.5% - close to the 35% operating margin the company actually earned across 2024 - and the exit multiple cut to 4x at a 14% discount rate. Fair value $75.34. What this case does NOT assume is a loss: capex stays at the guided pace because Y2 and M17 are already committed to 2031.

DRAM (including HBM)

Basis quarter$37.40B
Final quarter$47.97B
Implied CAGR+5%
Final revenue mix78%

Volatile memory sold by the bit at a cycle price. 71.8% of 2026 Q2 revenue and effectively the entire profit pool. HBM is the mix within it that carries the price - SK hynix held a 56.4% revenue share of the HBM market in 2026 Q1 per IDC - but HBM revenue is not separately disclosed in any filing, so DRAM is the finest honest cut. Revenue is bits shipped times average selling price; bits are capped by installed wafer capacity running at 100% utilisation, and no new cleanroom opens before Yongin Y1 in February 2027.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $12.53B Reported
2025 Q4 $16.19B Estimated
2026 Q1 $26.69B Reported
2026 Q2 $37.40B Reported
HBM3E and HBM4 for AI acceleratorsServer DRAM for AI and general-purpose serversSOCAMM2 and LPDDR modulesMobile, graphics and consumer DRAM
Units 100/qtr growing +10.0% per quarter Index, 2026 Q2 = 100. Absolute bit shipments are never disclosed - only QoQ percentage changes are.
Price per unit $374M drifting +15.0% per quarter $374.0m of revenue per index point: the basis quarter's $37.40bn DRAM revenue divided by 100.
DRAM (including HBM)

Latest: $47.97B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2023Q1 $1.92B
2023Q2 $2.90B
2023Q3 $3.99B
2023Q4 $4.82B
2024Q1 $4.92B
2024Q2 $7.02B
2024Q3 $7.91B
2024Q4 $9.51B
2025Q1 $9.21B
2025Q2 $11.24B
2025Q3 $12.53B
2025Q4 $16.19B
2026Q1 $26.69B
2026Q2 $37.40B
2026Q3E $45.89B
2026Q4E $52.81B
2027Q1E $58.02B
2027Q2E $61.64B
2027Q3E $63.91B
2027Q4E $65.09B
2028Q1E $65.43B
2028Q2E $65.14B
2028Q3E $64.40B
2028Q4E $63.33B
2029Q1E $62.04B
2029Q2E $60.60B
2029Q3E $59.06B
2029Q4E $57.47B
2030Q1E $55.86B
2030Q2E $54.24B
2030Q3E $52.63B
2030Q4E $51.05B
2031Q1E $49.49B
2031Q2E $47.97B

Assumptions & reasoning

  • Volume is an index, not a bit count. SK hynix never discloses absolute bits, only quarter-on-quarter percentage changes, so units are 100 at 2026 Q2 and the price per index point is that quarter's DRAM revenue of $37.40bn divided by 100.
  • The June quarter's arithmetic closes on the disclosed deltas: bits about +8% times ASP about +30% is +40.4%, against actual DRAM revenue growth of +40.1%. Price is doing nearly all of it - the March quarter was +65% on shipments the company described as similar to the prior quarter.
  • Bits start at the guided +10% for 2026 Q3 and glide to 4% a quarter, which is 17% a year - the rate SK hynix's own disclosed production capacity at average cost has actually compounded at (W35.2tn in 2024, W41.2tn in 2025, W48.3tn annualised in H1 2026). Utilisation was 100% for the first half of 2026, so capacity, not demand, sets shipments.
  • ASP rises 15% in the first projected quarter and glides to -4%, so in this model DRAM price peaks 44.3% above the June 2026 level in 2027 Q4 and ends the horizon 6.6% below it. The turn is timed to the cleanrooms, not to a view about prices: Yongin Y1 opens February 2027, Cheongju M17 December 2028, Yongin Y2 June 2029.
  • HBM revenue is not disclosed anywhere - not in the 424B4, not in the 6-Ks, not in the DART quarterly reports. IDC's 56.4% HBM share is a share of an external market, not a revenue line, so any HBM sub-line would be manufactured. This is the finest honest cut.
  • The company disclosed in July 2026 that it has finalised long-term agreements with around ten customers, with a typical term of around five years. That is the first contracted multi-year memory volume in its record, and it is the whole of the Song case.
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