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🐂 SKH — Company Profile (Teaching)

Teaching site, not investment advice. Specific market cap / stock price / financial figures change frequently and are intentionally omitted; use the SEC + Yahoo Finance links below to pull real-time data yourself.

Ticker note: Korea KOSPI 000660 (primary) / US OTC HXSCL (144A GDR — primary OTC quote; see OTC Markets + Bloomberg HXSCL:US). SKH used as a shorthand on this site; see table below for accurate references.

📌 Basics

Dimension Content Source
Core business DRAM (incl. HBM3E / HBM4) + NAND (Solidigm / former Intel NAND: 2021/12/29 first close, 2025/03/27 second & final close) + CMOS image sensors — global HBM primary supplier (~50%+ share) wiki + TrendForce
Founded / HQ 1983 / Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea wiki
CEO Kwak Noh-Jung (Co-CEO since 2022/03; sole CEO since 2024/03 after Park Jung-Ho stepped down to Vice Chairman) Company announcement
Primary listing Korea KOSPI: 000660 (primary) + US OTC: HXSCL (144A GDR, low liquidity) OTC Markets HXSCL
SEC filings Does not file with SEC — Korean company; financials filed with Korea's FSS DART (English summaries on company IR site) DART
Fiscal year Calendar year (Jan 1 – Dec 31) —

💡 Real-time market cap / share price / HBM shipments / revenue: see company IR + Yahoo links below.

🏭 Supply Chain Coordinates (Part 1-C6 framework)

Upstream (Who SKH Depends On)

Supplier What flows Key dependency
ASML EUV lithography tools (required for advanced DRAM/HBM manufacturing) Only option
AMAT + LRCX + KLAC + TOELY Deposition / etch / inspection / coating equipment Multi-vendor oligopoly
SNPS + CDNS EDA tools (limited use, primarily memory design) Duopoly

Downstream (Who Depends on SKH)

Customer Relationship Concentration
NVDA Primary HBM3E supplier (70%+ share) + HBM4 in qualification — strategic relationship NVDA is SKH's #1 HBM customer (per media reports + industry shipment data)
AMD Primary HBM3E supplier for MI300 / MI350 #2 HBM customer
GOOGL HBM3E for TPU Critical
INTC HBM supplied to Gaudi 3 / Jaguar Shores (HBM4) roadmap; Falcon Shores no longer commercialized (small share) General
Global server / phone DRAM + NAND buyers Commodity memory (legacy business, large volume but lower GM) Diversified

Competitors

  • HBM: MU Micron (#2 HBM3E supplier, ~20% share, taking NVDA #2 slot) / SSNLF Samsung (historical HBM leader; 2024 HBM3E NVDA qualification delays cost share; HBM4 catching up)
  • General DRAM: SSNLF Samsung / MU Micron (three-way oligopoly: SKH ~30-35% / Samsung ~40% / MU ~25%)
  • NAND: SSNLF / KIOXIA (TSE: 285A) / WDC (SNDK post 2025/02 spinoff) / YMTC (China YMTC)
  • China substitutes: CXMT (HBM3 production target end-2026)

💼 Business Model + Value Capture (Part 1-C7 view)

  • Revenue mix: DRAM (incl. HBM3E ~high-margin core) ~60-70% / NAND (Solidigm) ~25-30% / Other (CIS etc.) ~5%
  • Gross margin: Extreme cyclicality — DRAM upswing GM 50%+, downturn -10% or worse. HBM3E locked-price contracts are relatively stable and currently drive most GM
  • Pricing power: HBM3E powerful after qualification (NVDA can't switch on short notice); commodity DRAM is price-taker — HBM strong / commodity weak
  • Substitution difficulty: HBM medium — NVDA has qualified MU as secondary, but capacity + qualifying cycles make actual switching slow (1-2 years)

(For specific quarterly revenue / HBM revenue share / DRAM cycle, see the company IR site.)

🏰 Moat Assessment (Part 3-C2 Buffett 5-step lens)

Type Strength (0-1) Source
Brand 0.4 B2B memory; customers respect SK Hynix quality but no mass-market recognition like NVDA
Switching cost 0.6 HBM3E qualified; switching to MU requires 1-2 year qual cycle
Network effects 0.2 Memory isn't a classic network-effects business
Scale + cost 0.7 One of three global DRAM giants; HBM leader; ASML EUV priority capacity

Composite: 1.9 / 4 → HBM business has cyclical moat; commodity DRAM is fundamentally a cyclical stock

⚠️ Key Reverse-Trigger Conditions (Part 3-C5 anti-thesis view)

  • Trigger 1 (quarterly): HBM3E ASP drops sharply / price war with MU — margin compression
  • Trigger 2 (annual): SSNLF HBM4 qualifies on NVDA + large shipments — SKH HBM share declines
  • Trigger 3 (low probability): CXMT China HBM3 production + Chinese customers switch — long-term share risk
  • Trigger 4 (quarterly): NVDA capex growth slows — HBM demand cools
  • Trigger 5 (cyclical): General DRAM downturn (supply glut) — historically 18-24 month cycles

🔗 Teaching Cross-References

📚 SEC Primary Filings (look it up yourself)

Real-time quote: HXSCL OTC (CNBC) / Bloomberg HXSCL:US / Korea KOSPI 000660

Teaching use · numbers change — learn the method, not the specific figures · investment decisions are based on your own research + risk tolerance