SEOUL, Feb 8, 2026, 01:42 KST — The market has closed.
- SK hynix ended Friday at 839,000 won, slipping 0.36%.
- S&P Global Ratings bumped the chipmaker up to “BBB+” and attached a positive outlook this week.
- All eyes on Seoul Monday, as traders gauge if the tech retreat keeps rolling.
SK hynix (000660.KS) slipped 0.36% to close at 839,000 won on Friday, capping a roughly 8% slide for the week. This drop followed S&P Global Ratings’ decision the previous day to lift the company’s long-term credit rating to “BBB+” and assign a positive outlook, citing healthy demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and stable memory pricing. 1
SK hynix’s drop is notable—this stock is now seen as one of the purest plays on the AI boom, and it moves sharply up or down. “It has now shifted really heavily to memory, which is a Korea trade,” UBS’s Gerry Fowler, who heads European equity strategy, said, describing how AI-focused investors are rotating. 2
The stock kicks off the week wedged between a bullish AI-driven memory outlook and a tech sector tape that’s suddenly looking choppy.
Sentiment turned negative late last week, prompting investors to pull out of tech stocks regionwide. On Friday, South Korea’s KOSPI shed 1.4% and posted a 2.6% drop for the week, breaking a six-week rally. SK hynix and Samsung Electronics each lost 0.4% that day. 3
Signals on demand are hardly going one direction. Apple CEO Tim Cook told investors he’s bracing for a spike in memory chip prices, with AI-driven data centre demand eating up DRAM supply and sending costs higher for the core memory inside phones and servers. “There are different levers that we can push,” Cook said. That same week, analysts pointed to Apple’s strong bargaining hand with suppliers like SK hynix, Samsung Electronics and Micron. 4
After a robust 2025, SK hynix is upping its game for shareholders. The chipmaker bumped its year-end dividend to 1,875 won per share and will scrap 15.3 million treasury shares. “We will strengthen our role not merely as a product supplier, but as a core infrastructure partner in the AI era,” said Song Hyun Jong, president and head of the corporate center, in the results statement. 5
The warning signs show up in those bullish headlines themselves. Higher memory prices? That puts pressure on consumer-device firms and could throttle unit demand. If cloud giants so much as tap the brakes on spending, the very slice of the cycle investors are banking on takes a hit. Competitive pressure is ratcheting up as well, and lately, memory stocks have become high-beta barometers for global tech mood swings.
All eyes move to Monday’s Seoul open (Feb. 9), as markets wait to see if last week’s tech-driven selloff loses steam or picks up speed. Traders are also scanning for new signals from top memory buyers on pricing and supply, following recent warnings that cost pressures are mounting.
