SK Hynix just posted the most profitable quarter in its history. The market’s response? A double-digit selloff that rippled from Seoul all the way to decentralized perpetual futures on Hyperliquid.
The South Korean memory chip giant reported Q2 2026 operating profit of KRW 60.54 trillion, a jaw-dropping 557% increase from KRW 9.2 trillion a year earlier. Revenue hit KRW 79.32 trillion on the back of relentless demand for AI memory chips. But here’s the thing: analysts had penciled in KRW 64 trillion in operating profit. Missing by roughly KRW 3.5 trillion was enough to send shares tumbling between 9.6% and 13% on the Korea Exchange on July 29.
For context, this is a company that just raised approximately $26 billion through its US ADR listing on Nasdaq earlier in July. And yet a record quarter still wasn’t good enough.
When record profits feel like a miss
The broader Korean market didn’t help. The KOSPI index fell roughly 6% on the same day, creating an environment where any disappointing headline got punished extra hard. SK Hynix, as a heavyweight in the index and a bellwether for AI infrastructure spending, bore the brunt of that negative sentiment.
