SK Hynix Stock Falls Below 200-Day Average: A Chinese Rival’s IPO Filing May Explain Why
The layer of the AI trade that investors treated as the safest bottleneck is the one now being repriced fastest.
SK hynix Inc. (NASDAQ:SKHY) fell 10.09% in Seoul on Tuesday to 1,443,000 won, its fifth straight decline. It has lost 21.6% in five sessions and closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time since May 2, 2025.
Tuesday was SK Hynix’s eighth single-day drop of 10% or more in 2026. No year has produced that many since 2008.
Chart: Korea-LIsted SK Hynix Shares Drop Below 200-Day Average for First Time Since May 2025
Cut In Half, Still Up 122%
SK Hynix sits 50.6% below its June 22 record close. It is still up 121.7% this year.
Samsung Electronics Co. (OTC:SSNLF) fell 7.39%, and the KOSPI dropped 5.46%.
The SK Hynix ADR was indicated at $152.94 premarket, down 5.7%, after six straight declines.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was down 3.7% and Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) 4.6%.
The contrast is striking. Micron is 18.5% below its June record. SK Hynix has lost more than half.
The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (NYSE:EWY) closed Monday 22.4% below its June record. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) lost 2.05% on Monday and was down 1.8% premarket.
Wall Street is rotating, not retreating. It is not selling AI demand.
It is selling the assumption that three companies keep the pricing power that demand created.
The Report That Landed Mid-Selloff
As Seoul was closing, Counterpoint Research published a note on Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., which has filed for an IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market.
YMTC rose to No. 3 globally by NAND shipment volume in the second quarter, behind only Samsung and SK Hynix and ahead of Kioxia and Micron.
Strip out SK Hynix’s Solidigm unit, and YMTC is already No. 2.
"With AI driving the NAND super cycle, YMTC has become the fastest-growing vendor, with prudent investments in capability and capacity despite geopolitical headwinds," said Jeongku Choi, senior analyst at Counterpoint.
"YMTC’s revenue in 2026 is bound to grow 6x faster than the industry and its peers."
The filing follows DRAM maker CXMT, which ended its first trading day in July above CNY 3 trillion, about $443 billion, according to Counterpoint.
Sanctions Bred A Different Kind Of Chipmaker
YMTC’s Xtacking architecture builds the memory array and the logic on separate wafers, then bonds them.
"The innovative approach, such as Xtacking, allows YMTC to keep adding layers using mature, non-cutting-edge lithography tools, a critical advantage as US export controls restrict its access to the most advanced equipment," said Neil Shah, research vice president at Counterpoint.
It works like antibiotic resistance. The treatment selected for a version that no longer needs what was taken away.
Shah added: "Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest NAND maker, licensed YMTC’s Xtacking patents in February 2025."
The Test Ahead
"The bigger question is whether YMTC can convert this into design wins with customers outside China, not just domestic hyperscalers," said MS Hwang, research director at Counterpoint.
A pending U.S. bill, the MATCH Act, names YMTC and targets the tools its roadmap depends on.
YMTC’s valuation and offer price have not been set. When they are, the market will have a second Chinese memory company to price against the first.
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