SK hynix could out-earn Microsoft and Google as the AI memory boom lifts profits

SK hynix could become one of the most visible financial winners of the artificial intelligence boom in 2026. Analysts expect the company to sharply increase its operating profit thanks to demand for memory in AI servers, and to keep earning heavily even as Samsung pushes ahead in HBM4.

2026 forecast

According to KB Securities, SK hynix's operating profit in 2026 could rise 432% to $167 billion. If that scenario plays out, the South Korean memory maker would join the world's most profitable companies and surpass Microsoft and Google individually on this metric.

For the chip market, this is an unusual moment. Not long ago, memory makers were seen as a cyclical business prone to sharp downturns. Now they are among the main beneficiaries of the AI race. The reason is that AI infrastructure requires enormous volumes of expensive, technologically complex memory. This is not only about HBM, which sits next to accelerators, but also about conventional DRAM and NAND, where demand grows as data centers expand.

Analysts expect SK hynix's profit to climb throughout 2026 rather than arrive as a one-off spike. That makes the forecast particularly significant: the market is pricing in a sustained demand cycle, not short-term excitement.

Growth drivers

The main engine is price increases across almost the entire memory lineup, amid overheated demand from AI providers and cloud infrastructure. The faster chip prices rise while production costs grow only moderately, the higher the operating margin.

This is especially favorable for SK hynix, because the company has already established itself as a key HBM supplier for accelerators. That means it can sell not just more memory, but more expensive and more profitable products. The 2026 forecast comes down to a few telling figures:

• operating profit: +432% year over year
• profit forecast: about $167 billion
• expected DRAM price growth: +170%
• expected NAND price growth: +190%
• 2027 forecast: up to $241 billion

The logic is simple: operating profit is the difference between revenue and costs. If memory makers sell their products at higher prices than their costs rise, operating leverage kicks in very quickly. That is why the forecasts contain such large figures, which until recently seemed impossible for a semiconductor company focused primarily on memory. Sales mix matters too for SK hynix: the higher the share of HBM and other scarce products, the more overall profitability grows.

The Samsung factor

A separate question is whether Samsung Electronics can weaken its rival's position if it speeds up HBM4 development. For now, analysts do not see this as a decisive risk for SK hynix. The reasoning is that the AI memory market is growing so fast that Samsung's progress alone should not automatically strip SK hynix of high profits. Moreover, stronger competition does not eliminate the shortage of advanced components for AI systems, so it leaves room for high prices and large contracts.

Over a longer horizon, however, the competition will only intensify. According to forecasts, SK hynix's operating profit could reach $241 billion as early as 2027, which would put the company third in the world on this metric. Samsung Electronics, which also earns money from memory and other electronics businesses, is expected to rank first. For investors and the wider market, this signals that the center of power in the AI chain is shifting from model developers alone toward suppliers of key hardware components.

What it means

The AI boom is generating outsized profits not only for model developers and cloud platforms, but also for companies that supply the basic infrastructure they run on. SK hynix's story shows that memory has become one of the most expensive and scarce resources of the new AI economy. The fight over HBM, DRAM and NAND will therefore directly affect both the chip market and the balance of power among the largest technology companies.