Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix add W117tr in cash in six months — and the second half looks even bigger

Surging sales of high-bandwidth memory and general-purpose DRAM drove explosive earnings growth at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in the first half of this year, pushing their combined cash, cash equivalents and short-term financial assets up by nearly 120 trillion won ($84.8 billion) in just six months. Industry observers say the two chipmakers have now amassed an overwhelming war chest for the global race to expand semiconductor capacity.

According to industry sources Monday, Samsung Electronics disclosed in its recent half-year report that its cash, cash equivalents and short-term financial assets stood at 189.95 trillion won at the end of the first half — up about 64 trillion won from 125.82 trillion won at the end of last year.

SK Hynix posted an even sharper increase over the same period, with its cash and cash equivalents rising from 34.94 trillion won at end-2025 to 87.96 trillion won, a gain of more than 53 trillion won.

Combined, the two companies held 277.91 trillion won in cash, cash equivalents and short-term financial assets at the end of June — roughly 117 trillion won more than six months earlier.

SK Hynix also made rapid progress in paying down debt. Its total borrowings fell by 3.66 trillion won from a year earlier to 18.59 trillion won in the first half, suggesting the company used its strong profitability to build up reserves and retire debt at the same time.

SK Hynix set a target at its shareholder meeting earlier this year to accumulate 100 trillion won in net cash — defined as cash and cash equivalents minus total borrowings. The company's net cash position reached 69.37 trillion won at the end of the first half.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix posted operating profits of 146.72 trillion won and 98.15 trillion won, respectively, in the first half. Their combined total approached 250 trillion won, a figure the industry has described as a new record for the semiconductor sector.

The results reflect broad-based gains across memory products, including HBM, DRAM and NAND, as major technology companies poured investment into AI infrastructure, lifting both sales volumes and prices.

Attention is now turning to whether the two companies' combined cash and cash equivalents could reach 400 trillion won by the end of the year.

Some analysts expect the pair to generate combined operating profit approaching 200 trillion won in the third quarter alone.

As global chipmakers move aggressively to expand capacity, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are channeling their ample financial firepower into building out semiconductor fabs and scaling up production.

Samsung Electronics plans to expand its Pyeongtaek campus while establishing new memory semiconductor bases in Yongin and the Honam region in the southwest.

The company spent a total of 28.1 trillion won in capital expenditure in the first half.

SK Hynix is currently building its first fab at the Yongin semiconductor cluster and plans to invest a total of 54 trillion won in a second fab there and in M17, a NAND production facility to be built in Cheongju.