SK Hynix Nasdaq-Listed Shares Jump on $28 Billion Buyback

By Joe Stonor

SK Hynix's Nasdaq-listed shares jumped premarket after the South Korean chip maker said it will buy back and cancel more than $28 billion of shares over the next three months.

American depository receipts for the memory chip maker climbed 5.8% to $164.64 in premarket trade.

The Nvidia supplier said after the Korean market close Wednesday that it would accelerate its existing buyback plans. The group will buy and cancel shares worth 40.004 trillion won ($28.31 billion), or about 3.3% of its outstanding shares.

In all, the company said it would return more than 50% of the free cash flow it generates between 2025 and 2027 to investors. If completed, the plans will translate to South Korea's largest-ever stock buyback, the company said.

Trade in the world's second-largest memory chip maker has been highly volatile in recent months, with the stock a barometer for choppy investor sentiment around the build-out of artificial-intelligence. Seoul-listed shares have dropped more than 43% so far this quarter.

However, the new share buyback should put a meaningful floor under the company's share price, Citi analyst Peter Lee wrote in a note to clients.

Korean-listed SK Hynix shares have surged more than fivefold over the 12 months amid booming memory chip demand. The company's Nasdaq-listed receipts closed at $155.62 Tuesday, 4.4% ahead of their July offering price.

The move also shows SK Hynix's confidence that the memory supply squeeze has longer to run in the face of investor uncertainty, eToro's Josh Gilbert said.

"A commitment to its own shares on this scale over the next three months indicates SK Hynix does not think memory pricing is about to roll over."

Write to Joe Stonor at josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 19, 2026 09:17 ET (13:17 GMT)