SK Hynix: Failed SRAM, a Forced LG Merger and the HBM Chips Behind AI

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Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung created Hyundai Electronics in 1983, expecting cars to become computers on wheels. It first tried SRAM, which needs four to six transistors per bit, and its yields were poor. A 1985 switch to DRAM using designs imported from Vitelic also failed in mass production, so Hyundai worked as a contract foundry for Texas Instruments and General Instruments, learned clean-room production, and became the world's ninth largest DRAM maker by 1992. After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the South Korean government pressed Hyundai and LG to combine their chip units, and Hyundai Electronics bought LG Semicon for $2.1 billion in 1998.

When memory prices fell 80% in 2001, the business lost 5 trillion won and was rescued by creditor banks led by the Korea Development Bank. Renamed Hynix, it sold its phone, CDMA chip, car navigation and LCD units and was spun off from the Hyundai Group in August 2003. Sale attempts in 2009 and 2011 failed until SK Telecom bought it for $3 billion in February 2012. SK Hynix bought Intel's NAND flash business for $9 billion in 2021, forming Solidigm, began mass producing the first 12-layer high bandwidth memory in September 2024 and supplied Nvidia. On June 22, 2026, it passed Samsung Electronics in common-share market value, ending a reign of 25 years and seven months.

• In 2026 SK Hynix set aside 10% of an expected $169 billion annual profit for bonuses, about $500,000 per employee.
• Faulty SK Hynix flash chips in some Nintendo Wii U consoles corrupted data when the console stayed unplugged too long.
• Its first-quarter 2026 operating profit of $25 billion matched its total revenue for 2022.
• With 38% of the global DRAM market in mid-2025, its shift to AI memory contributed to a shortage of ordinary RAM.
• In July 2026 it raised $26.5 billion by listing American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq and agreed to buy Intel's Ohio fab site.