Shares of SK Hynix rocketed more than 12% in Seoul on Thursday after the company unveiled an accelerated stock buyback program, providing a much-needed boost to a semiconductor sector that has been whipsawed by volatility in recent sessions.
The memory chipmaker said it is speeding up its 40 trillion won ($28.7 billion) share repurchase and cancellation initiative, while also targeting a shareholder return expansion to more than 50% of cumulative free cash flow generated from 2025 through 2027.
Peter Lee, an analyst at Citi, said the move should give the stock meaningful near-term support. “We believe the initiative is expected to serve as a meaningful floor for the share price, providing tangible downside support in the near term,” Lee wrote, adding that the buyback also signals management’s confidence in the company’s mid- to long-term growth prospects despite ongoing headwinds in the memory sector.
The announcement follows SK Hynix’s recent commitment to invest 54 trillion Korean won in new memory chip manufacturing plants, a response to surging demand for components that are essential to artificial intelligence applications.
Broader Asian tech rebound
The jump in SK Hynix helped lift sentiment across Asian technology stocks, which recovered from losses a day earlier. Market participants drew support from a rebound in U.S. equities, which snapped a three-day losing streak as longer-dated Treasury yields pulled back from multi-year highs.
In South Korea, Samsung Electronics rose 8.69%, while Kakao climbed 4.41%. In Japan, SoftBank Group advanced 3.79%, Nintendo was more than 3% higher, and Rakuten added 2.39%.
The region’s tech complex has seen heightened volatility in recent sessions, with South Korea’s semiconductor-heavy market oscillating between steep losses and sharp gains.
Source: www.cnbc.com — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/20/sk-hynixs-south-korean-shares-surge-stock-buyback-.html
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