Critical Comparison: SK hynix (SKHY) & Its Rivals

SK hynix (NASDAQ:SKHY) is one of 221 publicly-traded companies in the “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare SK hynix to related businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares SK hynix and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
SK hynix	$68.00 billion	$30.04 billion	21.87
SK hynix Competitors	$6.73 billion	$1.99 billion	47.04

SK hynix has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. SK hynix is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

54.6% of shares of all “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies are owned by institutional investors. 12.0% of shares of all “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares SK hynix and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SK hynix	N/A	N/A	N/A
SK hynix Competitors	-244.84%	-123.19%	-4.47%

Dividends

SK hynix pays an annual dividend of $0.11 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. SK hynix pays out 1.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies pay a dividend yield of 0.9% and pay out 34.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for SK hynix and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SK hynix	0	1	9	4	3.21
SK hynix Competitors	3381	12032	25235	950	2.57

SK hynix currently has a consensus price target of $247.67, indicating a potential upside of 29.25%. As a group, “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 24.11%. Given SK hynix’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe SK hynix is more favorable than its competitors.

Summary

SK hynix beats its competitors on 10 of the 14 factors compared.

SK hynix Company Profile

We are one of the world’s largest memory semiconductor companies and engage in the design, manufacture and sale of advanced memory semiconductors. In the DRAM market that includes HBM, we were ranked second globally based on revenue with a market share of 29.1% in the first quarter of 2026, according to market research conducted by IDC. In the HBM market, we were ranked first globally based on revenue with a market share of 56.4% in the first quarter of 2026, according to IDC. In addition, we were the second largest supplier of NAND flash memory based on revenue, with a worldwide market share of 18.5% in the first quarter of 2026, according to IDC. Our memory products can be used in virtually all electronic devices, including graphics cards, personal computers (“PCs”), data center servers, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, and other consumer electronics products. We also conduct our foundry business through SK hynix system ic Inc. (“SK hynix system ic”) and SK keyfoundry Inc. (“SK keyfoundry”), our wholly-owned subsidiaries. We sell a wide variety of DRAM and NAND flash memory products with various configuration options, architectures and performance characteristics tailored to meet application- and customer-specific needs. We believe that we are one of the world’s leading companies in developing DRAMs with advanced specifications, particularly those requiring higher density, faster data-processing speed and lower power consumption. We are continually developing higher-density DRAM modules, SSDs and other advanced DRAM and NAND flash memory products that are optimized for our customers’ specific applications. In recent years, we have substantially increased our sales of HBMs. HBMs are advanced memory semiconductors designed to deliver fast data transfers while using less power, making them especially useful in high-performance applications such as GPUs, AI and high-performance computing. We have focused our sales and marketing activities in recent years on expanding our base of long-term strategic customers. We believe that our expertise and know-how in producing advanced memory semiconductors, strong long-term relationships with our key customers and state-of-the-art global production facilities in key strategic locations provide us with sustainable competitive advantages that will continue to differentiate us from our competitors and enable us to take advantage of attractive growth opportunities. We believe that we are a global leader in the HBM market with advanced production know-how and development of specific configurations that meet our customers’ demands. Our customers seek HBM suppliers with whom they can better align their own product development efforts and their strict quality standards often require HBM manufacturers to comply with rigorous testing and approval processes. We believe that our strengths in HBM, server DRAM and eSSD enable us to mitigate the risks associated with the cyclicality of the memory semiconductor market. We own and operate wafer fabrication facilities (“fabs”) in Icheon and Cheongju, Korea and Wuxi and Dalian, China. We also own and operate assembly and testing facilities for back-end processing of our products in Icheon and Cheongju, Korea and Chongqing, China. As part of our efforts to reduce unit manufacturing costs, improve manufacturing yields and enhance our profitability, we periodically phase out the operations of our older fabs or upgrade them to implement more advanced processing technologies. In addition to regular maintenance and enhancement of existing fabs, in October 2025, we opened the cleanroom of a new extension fab called “M15X” in Cheongju, which we plan to utilize to further increase our production capacity of next-generation DRAMs such as HBM. We began wafer input at the M15X in the first quarter of 2026 and expect to gradually ramp up our production volume. As part of our efforts to ensure our long-term competitiveness, we have also announced initiatives to construct an integrated industrial complex in Yongin, Korea for our next generation of fabs and research and development facilities. We began construction of our first fab at the Yongin complex in February 2025 with the phase 1 cleanroom of the first fab expected to open in the first quarter of 2027. We are currently constructing an advanced packaging plant called “P&T7” in Cheongju and expect to complete construction by the end of 2027. In December 2024, we also announced plans to build an advanced packaging plant in Indiana, United States, and expect to commence operations in the second half of 2028. In order to maintain our technological leadership, as well as to access new markets for our products, we engage in strategic initiatives, including making investments and acquisitions, from time to time. In October 2020, we agreed to acquire the NAND flash memory and storage business of Intel Corporation (“Intel”) (the “Intel NAND Business Acquisition”), including the NAND flash memory manufacturing facility in Dalian, China, NAND flash memory and SSD-related intellectual property and research and development personnel. As consideration for the Intel NAND Business Acquisition, we paid US$6.6 billion in December 2021 and US$2.2 billion in March 2025. We created a subsidiary in the United States to operate the acquired business under the brand name “Solidigm.” We also selectively acquire minority equity positions in other industry players to further strengthen our business relationships and acquire complementary businesses that we believe can further strengthen our leading position in the industry. Our principal executive offices are located in Korea.