SK Hynix Silicon Wafer Purchases Surge 104% Month-on-Month: “Scramble for Resources” and Price Wars Amid AI Storage Arms Race

As the demand for AI computing power continues to reshape the landscape of the semiconductor supply chain, storage giants are attempting to get ahead in the next round of capacity expansion and cost battles through aggressive raw material stocking strategies.

On September 1, according to DIGITIMES, SK Hynix’s expenditure on silicon wafers in the second quarter of 2026 will surge by 104% quarter-on-quarter, significantly outpacing rival Samsung Electronics in procurement scale. This doubling of purchases points directly to upstream silicon wafer price hike expectations and the stocking pressure for AI memory chips.

This move not only highlights SK Hynix’s aggressive expansion ambitions in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced DRAM segments, it also sends a strong signal to the market: The AI-driven storage supercycle is passing cost pressure up the supply chain, making the supply-demand tension of essential consumables a key variable affecting semiconductor companies’ profit margins.

The “grain grabbing” logic and price rise defense behind the procurement surge

Driven by soaring AI demand and expected wafer price increases, SK Hynix has significantly ramped up its silicon wafer purchases.

Silicon wafers account for a core proportion of semiconductor manufacturing costs, and this doubling in procurement spend is essentially SK Hynix’s preemptive positioning strategy against potential future wafer price hikes.

By locking in large amounts of upstream raw materials, SK Hynix aims to stabilize potential future procurement cost volatility. It is worth noting that its procurement scale is significantly higher than Samsung Electronics’ during the same period.

This discrepancy reflects strategic differences between the two companies in the AI memory race: SK Hynix is using a far more aggressive stocking strategy to ensure its HBM and advanced process DRAM market capacity release is not held back by raw material shortages, thus solidifying its first-mover advantage and delivery certainty in the AI supply chain.

Capacity surge and resonance with the AI storage supercycle

SK Hynix’s aggressive “grain stocking” in raw materials reflects its overall capacity expansion and technological iteration strategy.

To support the production of next-generation HBM4, SK Hynix has raised its 1C DRAM expansion plan to nearly double its initial target, lifting the production goal for the end of the first quarter of 2027 to 170,000–200,000 wafers per month.

At the same time, the company plans to invest $4 billion in building a next-generation HBM packaging plant in Indiana, USA, for further advanced memory capacity expansion.

On the technology front, SK Hynix has successfully developed 16GB LPDDR6 chips based on the 1c process, achieving notable improvements in data processing speed and energy efficiency; mass production validation of 375-layer NAND flash has also been completed. For the first time, molybdenum has been introduced as the word line metal gate material to replace traditional tungsten, with mass production slated by the end of this year.

In the first quarter of 2026, SK Hynix achieved revenues of 52.58 trillion KRW, a year-on-year increase of 298%; operating profit reached 37.61 trillion KRW, with a net profit margin exceeding 70%. Both DRAM and NAND average prices hit historical single-quarter records. The strong cash flow provides ample ammunition for early locking of core raw materials such as silicon wafers.

Accelerated cost pass-through: reshaping upstream supply chain pricing power

SK Hynix’s stocking actions not only affect the silicon wafer market but also reflect the reshaping of pricing power across the entire upstream semiconductor supply chain. While aggressively procuring raw materials, SK Hynix has also shown willingness to compromise on rising costs on the equipment procurement front.

Recently, SK Hynix broke industry convention by opening pricing adjustment windows to core equipment suppliers, permitting some top-tier suppliers to increase prices by 3% to 4%, ending a five-year trend of continuous price reductions by equipment vendors.

Additionally, when evaluating process equipment for 375-layer NAND based on molybdenum, SK Hynix ultimately chose Tokyo Electron’s furnace equipment over Lam Research’s single wafer processing systems, signaling a high dependence on specific process equipment.

From doubling silicon wafer procurements to implicitly allowing price increases for core equipment, SK Hynix’s actions indicate that, amid the AI-driven capacity arms race, memory giants’ reliance on the upstream supply chain is deepening.

For investors, this means that the benefits of semiconductor capital expenditure are rapidly flowing to silicon wafer manufacturers and core equipment suppliers. The performance elasticity and price hike capacity of upstream materials and equipment will become key anchors for future market pricing.