SK hynix Reportedly Weighs $12B Special Dividend From Kioxia Gains
SK hynix is reportedly weighing a special dividend of about 16 trillion won from Kioxia stake gains, Reuters reports via The Korea Herald, possibly with Q3 results on Oct. 28. The company has not confirmed it.
2 min readAI-assisted
The figure is reported by The Korea Herald, citing Dong-A Ilbo; SK hynix has not confirmed it.
Illustration (AI-generated)
SK hynix is reportedly weighing a special dividend of about 16 trillion won, roughly $12 billion, funded by gains from selling its stake in Japanese memory maker Kioxia, according to a Reuters report carried by The Korea Herald on Oct. 26.
The report attributed the plan to South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo, which reported that the company could announce it alongside third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, Oct. 28. The Herald's headline puts the figure at $12.1 billion, while its text gives about $12 billion. The report says SK hynix is considering the payout, not that it has been approved. The company could not be reached for comment outside business hours, and no denial or confirmation has surfaced.
Scale against the regular payout
The size is what stands out. In a regulatory filing dated Aug. 7, SK hynix set its second-quarter cash dividend at 375 won per common share, a total of about 273.3 billion won. The same filing said the company was reviewing additional shareholder return measures and expected to announce further details within the third quarter of 2026, a period that ended Sept. 30. The filing did not mention Kioxia or any stake sale.
A decision could come with Q3 results on Oct 28, according to the report; SK hynix has not confirmed the special dividend.
Illustration (AI-generated)
Why it matters for memory supply
For readers tracking the AI memory supply chain, the open question is the trade-off between returning cash and building capacity. SK hynix makes high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the stacked DRAM packaged beside AI accelerators, and its rival Samsung is pushing to catch up, as Voltgrid reported when it restarted a fifth Pyeongtaek fab. The sources Voltgrid read do not say how much capital spending the company plans.
The report lands days after SK hynix halted its review of a Solidigm US IPO, citing market volatility. At that point the company had not said how it would fund a US fab. The dividend report does not link the two, and nothing in the sources connects the Kioxia gains to US plans.
What is not confirmed yet
SK hynix has not confirmed the dividend, its size, its timing or whether it would be paid in one go. The report names no per-share amount and does not say what share of the Kioxia gains would be returned. The third-quarter results on Oct. 28 are the next point at which the company could settle the question.
