KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 (Bernama) -- Last-minute buying lifted Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark index, reversing earlier losses as higher oil prices boosted sentiment for energy- and chemical-related counters. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said regional markets remained under pressure following negative cues from Wall Street, compounded by surging oil prices, mixed earnings, and a cautious US Federal Reserve stance. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 1.60 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 1,722.02 from Wednesday’s close of 1,720.42. The benchmark index opened marginally lower at 1,720.23 and moved between a low of 1,712.14 and a high of 1,722.03 throughout the day. Market breadth, however, was negative, with losers trouncing gainers 816 to 360. A total of 546 counters were unchanged, 950 were untraded, and 77 were suspended. Turnover declined to 2.91 billion un...
Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK Group pledged to ramp up production of AI memory chips as global demand from data centres continues to surge.
The commitment underscores how critical high-bandwidth memory (HBM) has become in the artificial intelligence supply chain.
“Monster Chip” Driving Record Profits
Chey described HBM as a “monster chip” generating enormous profits for SK Hynix.
Key developments:
SK Hynix shares have more than quadrupled over the past year
2026 capital expenditure will rise significantly
2026 HBM production is already fully sold out
HBM chips are essential for AI accelerators designed by firms like Nvidia Corp, enabling large-scale model training and inference.
AI Spending Wave Fuels Chip Shortage
US tech giants including Microsoft Corp and Meta Platforms Inc are collectively spending about US$650 billion this year on AI infrastructure.
This spending spree has:
Triggered a global memory chip shortage
Boosted margins for leading suppliers
Concentrated power among three dominant players:
SK Hynix
Samsung Electronics
Micron Technology
Profit Expectations — And Risk Warning
Analyst projections for SK Hynix’s 2026 operating profit:
Previously ~US$50 billion
Now around US$70 billion
Some estimates above US$100 billion
But Chey issued a sharp warning:
“That sounds like really good news — but it could just as easily turn into a US$100 billion loss.”
The risk stems from:
Rapid technological shifts
Potential competitive disruption
Cyclical semiconductor volatility
Energy: The Next Bottleneck
Beyond chip supply, Chey flagged a new constraint — power infrastructure.
SK Group is exploring:
Building power plants alongside AI data centres
Securing reliable electricity supply
Failure to meet energy demand, he warned, could be “disastrous.”
As AI infrastructure scales globally, electricity capacity may become as critical as semiconductor supply.
Market Takeaway
The AI supercycle remains intact:
HBM demand is sold out
Capex is expanding
Profit forecasts are climbing
But semiconductor cycles can turn quickly.
The next risks to monitor:
Competitive breakthroughs
Overcapacity
Energy bottlenecks
AI spending moderation
Bottom Line
SK Hynix is doubling down on AI memory dominance — but leadership in the fastest-growing tech segment comes with amplified volatility.
The “monster chip” era is highly profitable — yet potentially fragile.
Comments
Post a Comment