SK Hynix Drops Over 3% Pre-Market as HBM4 Equipment Order Delays Spark Expansion Concerns

TradingKey - In US pre-market trading on Wednesday, SK Hynix (SKHY) shares fell over 3%. Market reports indicate that deliveries of certain back-end equipment orders for the company's sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) may be delayed, raising investor concerns over the pace of capacity expansion and mass production progress.

Source: TradingView

According to South Korean media outlet Dealsite, citing semiconductor equipment industry sources, delivery of some HBM4 back-end equipment originally scheduled for deployment in the second half of this year may be delayed until next year, and the timeline for subsequent follow-up orders remains unclear. Meanwhile, some suppliers have yet to receive SK Hynix's complete investment plan for next year, and the actual operating rates of delivered equipment also lack supporting public data.

With main equipment orders for HBM4 largely completed for this year, the market had initially expected SK Hynix to further expand investment. As new procurement signals have been slow to emerge, investors are concerned that the company may be slowing its HBM4 capacity construction, which could also impact the order outlook for related back-end equipment suppliers.

However, there is currently no direct evidence showing that the equipment procurement adjustments stem from product quality issues, nor can it be concluded that the HBM4 mass production plan has been hindered. Equipment delivery timing may be influenced by multiple factors, including production line verification, customer certification, equipment utilization, and overall capital expenditure planning. Therefore, investment pace and product competitiveness should be evaluated separately.

Daeshin Securities analyst Ryu Hyung-keun believes that market concerns over SK Hynix's HBM4 quality issues may be overdone. Even if technical adjustments exist in certain back-end processes, they remain within a solvable scope and are currently not severe enough to affect customer collaboration or warrant discussions of compensation liability.