On January 19, media reports indicated that global memory giant SK Hynix will distribute performance bonuses averaging over 136 million South Korean won (approximately 640,000 yuan) per employee, setting the highest record since the company's founding.

A key reason employees can receive this substantial bonus is that last September, SK Hynix and its labor union reached a historic wage agreement, abolishing the previous cap that limited the "Profit Sharing (PS)" to no more than 10 times the base salary. It was replaced by allocating 10% of the annual operating profit into the bonus pool.

According to market consensus expectations, SK Hynix's operating profit for 2025 is projected to approach 45 trillion South Korean won (approximately 2.12715 trillion yuan), resulting in a total bonus pool of 4.5 trillion won (approximately 212.72 billion yuan). Averaged across the company's workforce of 33,000 employees, this translates to 136 million won per person.

The bonus distribution reportedly follows a structured "8:1:1" model: 80% will be paid out immediately after the earnings announcement at the end of January, while the remaining 20% will be deferred over two years, accruing 10% annual interest. Furthermore, employees can choose to convert up to 50% of their bonus into company stock; holding these shares for a full year grants an additional 15% cash reward. For example, on a 100 million won bonus, maximizing the stock option could yield an extra 7.5 million won. Notably, this "Shareholder Participation Plan" was not implemented in 2024 due to industry downturn but is officially launching in 2025 as performance recovers.

The core support for these massive bonuses is the company's stellar performance. SK Hynix's Q3 2025 financial report showed sales reaching 24.45 trillion won, up 10% quarter-over-quarter and 39% year-over-year; operating profit was 11.38 trillion won, increasing 24% QoQ and 62% YoY; the profit margin soared to 47%, hitting a historical peak.

Over the past year, the global memory market experienced unprecedented volatility. Since July 2025, DDR5 memory prices have surged over 300%, with high-end server memory module prices nearing 50,000 yuan per unit, and HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) prices exceeding $5,000 per chip.

Counterpoint previously stated that the memory market has entered a "super cycle" phase, with current conditions even surpassing the historical highs of 2018. Driven by sustained surges in AI and server capacity demand, supplier pricing power has reached an all-time high. Memory prices are forecast to soar 40%–50% in Q4 2025; they are expected to rise another 40%–50% in Q1 2026, followed by an approximate 20% increase in Q2 2026.

Consequently, SK Hynix's stock price has surged, climbing from around 204,000 won at the end of 2024 to approximately 760,000 won by the end of 2025, a yearly increase of about 275%, making it one of the world's best-performing chip stocks.

In a recent report, J.P. Morgan's analysis team led by Jay Kwon maintained an "Overweight" rating on SK Hynix and raised their December 2026 target price from 800,000 won to 1 million won. Analysts noted that strong pricing momentum over the next 3 to 6 months is expected to drive upward revisions in profit forecasts, with projected EPS for fiscal years 2026-2027 having 20% to 25% upside potential.

As a traditional memory giant, SK Hynix's stock price skyrocketed 274% last year, and it has tripled since the end of September amid the ongoing memory market surge.