REPORT: SK hynix is considering a special dividend of about 16 trillion won, roughly $12 billion, funded by gains from selling its stake in Japanese memory maker Kioxia. The information was published on Monday, October 26, 2026, by South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo, as cited by Reuters.
STATEMENT: the company has not confirmed the figure. Asked by the stock exchange operator about the report, SK hynix said it is reviewing various shareholder return measures and plans to announce them on Wednesday, October 28, alongside third-quarter earnings. Until that announcement, the $12 billion is a reported number, not a commitment.
According to Reuters, SK hynix invested about 4 trillion won in Kioxia in 2018 through a Bain Capital-led consortium of US, Japanese and South Korean investors. The company has not publicly disclosed details of the stake sale, completed this year, and analysts estimate hefty cumulative investment gains.
The backdrop is the boom in memory for artificial intelligence. SK hynix, a supplier to Nvidia, and Samsung face growing investor pressure to return a larger share of excess cash through dividends or buybacks, after record profits fuelled by demand for AI memory chips. That pressure grew after shares fell from record highs reached in June, partly on doubts about how durable US companies' AI spending will prove.
In August, SK hynix had already said it would buy back and cancel 40 trillion won of its own shares and allocate more than 50% of free cash flow generated between 2025 and 2027 to boosting shareholder returns. On the previous Friday, the company also paused a planned US listing of its Solidigm chip unit, citing market volatility.
On Monday, SK hynix shares rose 0.5% while the broader market fell 1.3%, according to Reuters. What remains unconfirmed is precisely the key point: the amount, form and timing of any dividend, if one is announced at all, should only become clear in Wednesday's announcement.
Fontes: Reuters — SK Hynix anunciará medidas de retorno ao acionista na quarta-feira e AI News Today — briefing de 26 de outubro de 2026.
Image credit: SK Hynix memory module in a MacBook Pro, photograph via Wikimedia Commons. The image illustrates the company's memory products and is not a photo of the dividend announcement.
Transparency: this article was produced with the help of artificial intelligence, cross-checked against public posts on X and internet sources. Check the original sources to confirm the details.
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