SK Hynix rises on record buyback, Japan expansion plan

SK Hynix shares climbed on Friday as the South Korean memory chipmaker weighed a potentially massive semiconductor manufacturing expansion in Japan and unveiled a record shareholder return program, even as domestic rival Samsung Electronics countered with an even larger capital return initiative of its own.

SK Hynix stock rose approximately 1.6 percent on Friday following a day of dramatic gains in South Korean markets driven by the company's buyback announcement. The stock had surged nearly 13 percent on Thursday, August 20, after the company disclosed plans to repurchase and cancel 40 trillion won, or roughly $29 billion, of its own shares, marking the largest treasury share cancellation ever conducted by a publicly traded South Korean company. The buyback would retire approximately 3.3 percent of outstanding shares, a move analysts said should structurally support the stock by lifting earnings per share and return on equity.

Alongside the buyback, SK Hynix pledged to return more than 50 percent of its cumulative free cash flow to shareholders from 2025 through 2027, a modest increase from its previous commitment of within the 50 percent threshold. J.P. Morgan analyst Jay Kwon...