Chey Tae-won buys ₩4.9B in SK hynix as memory glut fears grow

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won made his first purchase of SK hynix shares on Thursday, buying 4.9 billion won worth of stock. The group said the move reflected his belief that a recent sell-off had gone too far and his confidence in the memory maker's competitiveness.

The purchase came just below the threshold that would have forced Chey to disclose the plan 30 days in advance. It followed a sharp decline in the shares from an intraday record on June 25 to Thursday's close.

The memory market has turned unsettled after a stretch of blistering gains driven by AI demand. Investors are questioning whether AI infrastructure spending by big tech has peaked, while worrying the market could swing from shortage to glut.

Those fears intensified after the market debut of ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China's leading DRAM producer. Its Shanghai STAR Market IPO raised 57.92 billion yuan and sent shares up 466% on the first day, turning it into one of China's most valuable listed firms.

CXMT's fundraising is expected to support a large increase in DRAM capacity, feeding oversupply concerns. Market estimates suggest the company could lift total monthly output to about 550,000 wafers by the end of 2028.

For now, CXMT trails the three dominant suppliers. Counterpoint Research put its share of global DRAM revenue at 8% in the first quarter, up from 3% a year earlier but still far below Samsung Electronics , SK hynix, and Micron .

In high-bandwidth memory — the segment most tied to AI servers — CXMT is not yet a meaningful player. Industry officials say it remains several years behind Korean chipmakers, and SemiAnalysis reports it is struggling with yields on 8-high HBM3 production. Chey's buy reads as a bet that SK hynix's lead holds while the market frets over what comes next.