KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the first trading day of the week higher, maintaining its momentum from last week amid improving investor sentiment following the latest United States tariff announcements. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 5.15 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 1,757.98, compared with Friday’s close of 1,752.83. The benchmark index had opened 4.14 points higher at 1,756.97, and moved between 1,752.48 and 1,760.03 throughout the trading session. The broader market was positive, with gainers outpacing losers 584 to 520, while 537 counters remained unchanged. A total of 1,139 counters remained untraded and 24 were suspended. Turnover widened to 2.47 billion units worth RM2.65 billion compared to 2.03 billion units worth RM2.20 billion last Friday.
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.
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