SK Hynix Announces $29 Billion Treasury Share Buyback Plan

SK Hynix Inc. ’s U.S.-listed ADR (NASDAQ: SKHY ) rose 5.56% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the South Korean memory chipmaker announced plans to buy back and cancel 40 trillion won ($29 billion) worth of its treasury shares.

SKHY’s premarket rebound follows a 9.2% decline on Tuesday amid a broader Wall Street tech selloff.

Its primary South Korean listing also fell 9.75% in Seoul trading on Wednesday.

The stock, however, recovered 7% in after-hours trading.

Treasury Shares Explained Treasury shares are outstanding equity stock that a company repurchases from shareholders on the open market and holds within its corporate treasury.

When SK Hynix repurchases and permanently cancels these shares between Aug.

20 and Nov.

19, it reduces its overall outstanding share count.

Shrinking the total supply of shares automatically increases earnings per share and elevates the proportional ownership stake held by existing investors without requiring extra capital.

Read Also: Cathie Wood Explains Why She's Sitting Out SK Hynix and Micron Despite the Memory Price Surge: 'Most Cyclical Part of a Semiconductor Food Chain' Free Cash Flow Commitments In a regulatory filing, the primary memory chip supplier to Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA ) announced that it will allocate more than 50% of its cumulative free cash flow generated between 2025 and 2027 toward shareholder returns.

This expands its former policy framework, which limited returns to within 50% of cumulative cash flow.

SK Hynix will distribute this capital through share buybacks, cancellations, and cash dividends, following its $26.5 billion U.S. listing last month.

Sector Buybacks and Valuation The announcement comes amid mounting investor pressure on chipmakers like SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics to distribute excess profits generated by the artificial intelligence boom.

Explaining the rationale behind the aggressive capital return amid fluctuating demand for AI memory chips, SK Hynix emphasized that its stock price remains undervalued.

The company stated that its “intrinsic value — underpinned by its business competitiveness, robust cash generation capability, and mid-to-long-term growth potential — is not fully reflected in its current stock price.” Peers across the memory sector are turning to buybacks, with SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK ) adding $14 billion to its buyback program and Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU ) nearing the expiration of CHIPS Act restrictions.

How Has SK Hynix Performed In 2026? The U.S.-listed ADR shares were 8.46% lower since its July listing.

It was up 1.03% over the last month and 9.86% higher over the last five days.

On the other hand, the Korean shares were up 130.41% YTD, down 18.57% over the month, and higher by 470.34% over the year. ’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that SKHY maintains a strong price trend in the short, long, and medium terms, with a good growth score.

Read Also: Exclusive: Marjorie Taylor Greene Warns Social Security Will Go ‘Bankrupt’—But Wall Street CIO Backs Scott Bessent Amid 30-Year Yield Surge Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published editors.

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