'Don't sell SK Hynix': Global investor Pabrai says memory chip boom 'just getting started'

Mohnish Pabrai, a global value investor who manages $1.4 billion in assets through Pabrai Investment Funds, says selling SK Hynix was a "deeply painful mistake" he bitterly regrets.

In an interview with YouTube channel Jisik Inside on June 22, Pabrai said he had broken his own principles by selling. "These were companies I should have held forever," he said. "I regret it deeply."

He offered a pointed piece of advice: "If you already own the company supplying the most reliable pickaxes in the semiconductor gold rush, never sell."

Pabrai argued that the memory chip market has been fundamentally transformed. Where it was once a brutal game of attrition, it has now consolidated into a powerful "Big Three" dominated by Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron. Any new entrant would need 10 to 20 years to clear the patent barriers, secure key engineers and build the complex fabrication facilities required — making the emergence of a fourth major player "virtually impossible," he said. "The boom cycle has only just begun," he added.

Pabrai also sounded a cautionary note on South Korea's demographic outlook. "Korea's population is declining faster than Japan's," he warned, adding that a prolonged population decline would drag down GDP growth and ultimately weigh on the stock market.

He said the only way for a shrinking nation like South Korea or Japan to sustain meaningful GDP growth is to become a strong export power. "Korea is already an export powerhouse," he said, "but trade barriers like tariffs and rising labor costs driven by population decline are the key challenges ahead."

On his investment philosophy, Pabrai said he approaches share purchases not as price tags but as partial ownership of a business — as if acquiring the entire company. "I look for investments I can hold for a lifetime," he said.

Pabrai identified leverage as the leading cause of investment failure. "It's important that companies don't carry too much debt, and that individuals minimize borrowing when buying shares," he said.

He also cautioned against chasing popular assets. "Most investors lose money chasing shiny objects — Bitcoin, AI, SpaceX," he said. "The essence of value investing is finding extraordinary, risk-free opportunities in markets that are completely ignored and universally despised."