SK Hynix, the South Korean memory chipmaker that controls roughly 58% of the high-bandwidth memory market, has earned a bullish endorsement from Wedbush as a persistent global memory shortage continues to tighten its grip on the AI supply chain. The analyst firm positioned SK Hynix as one of the primary beneficiaries of the AI infrastructure boom, citing favorable supply chain signals, including positive guidance from lithography equipment giant ASML.
On July 10, SK Hynix completed a record $26.5 billion Nasdaq IPO, the largest initial public offering in US history by a foreign company.
The supply problem nobody can solve fast enough
CEO Kwak Noh-jung warned that 2027 would bring “the most severe memory supply shortage the industry has ever faced.” Demand is projected to exceed supply capacity well into 2030, even accounting for planned expansions.
UBS analysts have corroborated this timeline, predicting the global DRAM market will remain undersupplied at least through the second quarter of 2028.
Wedbush’s thesis leans heavily on ASML’s recent guidance as a leading indicator. ASML makes the extreme ultraviolet lithography machines that are essential for producing advanced memory chips.
Why crypto investors should care about memory chips
Nvidia’s announcement on July 25 that it had secured AI memory supply from SK Hynix underscores this connection. Nvidia’s GPUs are the workhorses of both AI training and, increasingly, crypto-adjacent computation. When Nvidia locks up memory supply through long-term partnerships, it simultaneously constrains availability for smaller players in the ecosystem.
What this means for investors
SK Hynix currently carries a consensus “Strong Buy” recommendation from analysts. With approximately 58% of the HBM market, the company isn’t just participating in the AI boom. It’s one of the few entities that can actually bottleneck it.
The competitive landscape is also worth monitoring. Samsung and Micron are SK Hynix’s primary rivals in the HBM space, but neither commands the same market share.