SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's first direct purchase of SK hynix shares is estimated to have generated more than 1 billion won ($694,000) in paper gains within a single day. SK hynix surged more than 27% in early trading Friday, buoyed by a US AI semiconductor rally, sending its largest shareholder SK Square to the daily upper price limit.
SK Square hit its price ceiling Friday as core subsidiary SK hynix spiked. Korea Exchange data showed SK Square trading at 1.04 million won as of 9:56 a.m. Friday, up 29.91 percent from the previous session. SK Square holds a 20 percent stake in SK hynix, making it the company's largest shareholder.
SK hynix's surge followed an overnight rally in US semiconductor stocks. On Thursday (local time), Microsoft posted earnings that beat market expectations and raised its AI investment outlook, sending its share price up more than 15 percent. The renewed optimism over AI investment lifted the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) 8.2 percent, with Micron (18 percent), AMD (13 percent) and SanDisk (26 percent) among the chipmakers that advanced sharply.
That investor sentiment carried over into domestic memory chip stocks. At the same time Friday morning, SK hynix was trading at 1.69 million won, up 27.84 percent from the previous session, and climbed as high as 1.7 million won intraday, approaching its upper limit of 1.72 million won. Growing expectations that expanded AI investment would drive higher demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) put a spotlight on both SK hynix's corporate value and the value of SK Square's stake in the company.
The surge also sharply boosted the paper gains of Chairman Chey, who made his first direct share purchase on Thursday. According to Financial Supervisory Service filings on DART, Chey bought 3,620 shares of SK hynix common stock on the open market that day. Based on Thursday's closing price of 1.32 million won per share, the position was estimated to have generated an unrealized gain of approximately 1.33 billion won by 9:56 a.m. Friday, when the stock was trading at 1.69 million won. However, because the actual execution price was not disclosed in the filing, the true paper gain may differ.
The direct purchase is also being read as a signal of confidence in the growth potential of the AI memory chip business. It marks the first time Chey has bought SK hynix shares in his own name. Until now, he had maintained control of SK hynix indirectly through holding companies SK and SK Square.
kacew@heraldcorp.com
