SK Hynix had secured 98.7 trillion won in net cash as of the end of the third quarter. The company is now within reach of its goal of securing 100 trillion won in net cash, which CEO Kwak Noh-jung announced at the company's annual general meeting in March.
SK Hynix said, "Cash assets as of the end of the third quarter were 114.5 trillion won, an increase of 26.5 trillion won from the previous quarter, while borrowings decreased by 2.8 trillion won to 15.8 trillion won." The company added, "As a result, net cash expanded to 98.7 trillion won."
SK Hynix's net cash stood at approximately 12.7 trillion won as of the end of last year, but increased by 86 trillion won in just three quarters.
Previously, President Kwak stated at this year's regular shareholders' meeting, "We will secure more than 100 trillion won in net cash for future growth. Although the company's financial soundness has recently improved, it remains insufficient compared to global top-tier companies that lead AI (artificial intelligence) technology and drive memory demand."
This reflects the intention to build a solid financial foundation capable of supporting continuous strategic investment.
The expansion of net cash carries significant meaning as "securing ammunition" to respond to the investment competition in the AI era, going beyond simple improvements in financial soundness. This is because massive upfront investment is required not only for the development and Yangsan of HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), its core product, and next-generation DRAM, but also for building advanced packaging processes.
In particular, while it was common in the past to flexibly adjust investment scale according to semiconductor industry conditions, the importance of sustained and stable investment capacity is growing due to structural changes in memory demand driven by the spread of AI. Analysts note that securing sufficient cash reserves allows for a swift response to market changes and strengthens medium- to long-term technological competitiveness.
SK Hynix stated, "We plan to flexibly adjust the scale and timing of investments after carefully considering customer demand, product competitiveness, profitability, and investment efficiency."
in INDUSTRY
