Micron's HBM Bonanza Signals Memory Megacycle

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an "AI-based personalized news recommendation and summary service" developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items by reader type.

1. Micron Secures Fixed Revenue Through 'Supply Advantage' SCA…Q4 Results to Set Another Record

- Key Summary: Micron announced that its revenue and net profit surged 4.5-fold and 15-fold, respectively, in its fiscal third-quarter (March-May) results for 2026. The key backdrop is the Strategic Customer Agreements (SCA) signed with 16 companies, a structure that guarantees at least $100 billion in revenue through 2030. A shortage of high bandwidth memory (HBM) drove the earnings surprise, with the cloud memory segment alone posting $13.77 billion in revenue. Micron forecast that the memory supply shortage could continue through 2028, signaling that the dominance of the three memory companies, including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, will continue.

2. AI Infrastructure-Driven Megacycle…Will 'Samsung 100 Trillion, hynix 70 Trillion' Set Q2 Operating Profit Records?

- Key Summary: As Micron posted a quarterly operating profit margin of 80.4%, expectations are rising for Samsung Electronics' and SK hynix's second-quarter results. According to FnGuide, the highest forecast for Samsung Electronics' second-quarter operating profit reaches 99.63 trillion won, while SK hynix's reaches 71.446 trillion won. The industry assesses that the semiconductor sector has entered a structural boom phase beyond a simple economic recovery, and analyzes that memory companies' pricing power in HBM and high-value-added chip supply negotiations has strengthened considerably compared to past super cycles. One semiconductor industry official said, "It showed how strongly AI infrastructure investment is being reflected in the actual income statements of memory companies."

3. Samsung, SK Strengthen M&A Organizations…All-Around Hiring From 'MBB' to Overseas Lawyers

- Key Summary: Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are extensively reorganizing their dedicated M&A organizations, leveraging the enormous cash secured from the AI memory boom. Samsung Electronics is recruiting 'MBB' experts from the global big-three consulting firms—McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Bain & Company—centered on its Corporate Development Group reporting directly to the Device eXperience (DX) division, while SK hynix plans to expand its growth strategy division, reporting directly to CEO Kwak Noh-jung, from about 10 people to around 60. With the two companies' combined operating profit forecast for 2025-2028 reaching 2,320 trillion won, they are pouring resources into strengthening cross-border M&A capabilities to secure global AI core companies.

4. China's Largest AI App Doubao Goes Paid Too…Is the 'Free Competition' Era Ending?

- Key Summary: ByteDance's AI app Doubao introduced a paid subscription service for the first time since its 2023 launch, adopting a three-tier pricing plan ranging from 68 yuan (about 15,000 won) to 500 yuan (about 110,000 won) per month. After the official move to paid services, about 6 million users left, revealing that Chinese consumers have a low willingness to pay, but Morgan Stanley analyzed that it is not economically sustainable for China's AI industry to maintain a fully free model over the long term. ByteDance has raised its capital expenditure target to $70 billion this year to expand data centers and AI infrastructure, and is negotiating overseas loans of up to $20 billion. As cost pressure intensifies, attention is focused on whether major AI apps such as Alibaba's 'Qwen' and DeepSeek will shift to monetization.

5. Krafton Establishes Dedicated AI Commercialization Organization…Pursuing Both Profit and Efficiency

- Key Summary: Krafton officially launched its 'AI Frontier Division' last April and has begun in earnest to connect its accumulated AI research capabilities to actual profit and work efficiency. The division operates in Squad units composed of product owners (PO) and AI native engineers, with Park Jae-min, who has experience as Toss Securities CEO and a Coupang Marketplace PO, appointed as its first head. Since declaring its transition to an 'AI First' company last October, Krafton has invested about 100 billion won to build an Nvidia graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster and doubled its AI-related workforce from 80 to 160 people. Earlier this year, it established 'Ludo Robotics,' a subsidiary specializing in physical AI, expanding its business scope into the humanoid robot market.

6. Hyundai Card Platform Pushes for Exports to Middle East, Asia, North America

- Key Summary: Hyundai Card is pushing to expand overseas exports of its in-house developed AI platform 'UNIVERSE' to the Middle East, Asia, and North America. Following Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company (SMCC), it continues discussions with companies in various countries, aiming to establish a recurring contract model centered on data consulting, software subscription fees, and cloud infrastructure usage fees. Ted Chung, Vice Chairman of Hyundai Card, said, "We can sell to about two locations per year," pursuing a business model that sells financial firms' internal platforms externally as commercial software, like 'Aladdin,' the risk management system of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager. It is assessed as a case presenting a new growth path for the domestic card industry, whose core business profits are under pressure from merchant fee cuts.