Hong Kong-listed memory chip stocks opened sharply lower collectively on July 13. Among them, the CSOP 2x Long Hynix ETF plunged nearly 20% at the opening, while Gigadevice Semiconductor Inc. shares fell nearly 12% at the open. The CSOP 2x Long Samsung Electronics ETF also dropped nearly 10% early in the session.

Earlier in the day, shares of SK Hynix tumbled over 8% in the South Korean market, falling below 2 million won to 1,997,000 won. This marks the stock's lowest level since June 11 and represents a 33% decline from its all-time high reached on June 25.

The catalyst for the sell-off appears to be a report from South Korean brokerage KIS, which projected SK Hynix's second-quarter operating profit to reach 60.4 trillion won. While this would represent a 61% increase quarter-over-quarter and a staggering 556% surge year-over-year, it still falls 8% short of the market consensus estimate of 65 trillion won. The lower-than-expected forecast is primarily attributed to SK Hynix's higher proportion of revenue coming from High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) compared to its peers, which has resulted in its average selling price increase lagging behind the broader market average.