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Macquarie raises earnings forecasts for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix through 2027
Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 12:25 AM
Macquarie has significantly upgraded its earnings outlook and target prices for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. The firm projects Samsung's operating profit to reach 301 trillion KRW in FY2026 and 477 trillion KRW in FY2027, while forecasting SK hynix to reach 272 trillion KRW and 447 trillion KRW in the same periods, reflecting high growth expectations for the memory sector.
Context
On February 25, 2026, Macquarie sharply upgraded its outlook for the South Korean memory sector, signaling a shift from a neutral stance to a strongly bullish view. Analysts cite the arrival of the AI inference era as a critical catalyst, where memory has become the primary bottleneck for large-scale AI services. This structural shift, combined with severe supply shortages and limited new fab capacity, is expected to drive unprecedented price surges for both DRAM and NAND through 2027.
The firm raised its target price for Samsung Electronics to KRW 340,000, forecasting a massive operating profit of KRW 301 trillion ($208.8B) for FY2026 and KRW 477 trillion ($330.9B) for FY2027. Simultaneously, SK Hynix saw its target price climb to KRW 1,700,000, with projected operating profits of KRW 272 trillion ($188.7B) in FY2026 and KRW 447 trillion ($310.2B) in FY2027. These revisions reflect a "triple supercycle" in HBM, commodity DRAM, and NAND that is expected to persist much longer than traditional semiconductor cycles.
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SK Hynix
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Macquarie
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