---
endpoint: analytics
pattern: Technology
status: done
latency_ms: 184712
conversation_id: 665c6936-e4e5-4ca1-ba2f-4479d272aa89
citations: 12
created: 2026-05-31 21:19:30Z
---

# Who are the key customers and suppliers of SK Hynix?

# SK Hynix (000660 KS) — Key Customers and Suppliers

## Key Customers

SK Hynix's customer base has become highly concentrated on AI infrastructure spenders, particularly in High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) where it holds market leadership. Customers can be grouped into four buckets:

### 1. NVIDIA — The Anchor HBM Customer
NVIDIA is the single largest customer, accounting for the dominant share of HBM revenue:
- **Currently ~70–80% of HBM sales** go to NVIDIA, with the balance going to ASIC customers [1].
- NVIDIA's share of SK Hynix's HBM revenue has been **declining as the customer base diversifies — from 95% in 2023 → 80% in 2024 → ~70% in 2025** [4].
- **2026 supply negotiations with NVIDIA cover ~70% of HBM shipment** and were expected to be finalised by 1H25 [8].
- The HBM roadmap explicitly maps to NVIDIA's GPU generations: **HBM3 → Hopper, HBM3E → Blackwell, HBM4 → Rubin, HBM4E → TBD** [5].
- NVIDIA's **Rubin GPU will use 288GB of HBM** and Rubin Ultra (2027) up to 1TB, and SK Hynix has begun mass production of a 192GB SOCAMM2 module "optimized for NVIDIA's Vera Rubin platform" [7][9].

### 2. ASIC / Hyperscaler Customers (Custom AI Accelerator Buyers)
With falling inference costs and hyperscalers building in-house AI silicon, SK Hynix has been winning new ASIC customers expected to account for **~25–30% of HBM revenue in 2025**:
- Media reports cite negotiations with **Google, Meta, Broadcom and Marvell** for HBM supply in 2026 and beyond [2].
- These customers are rapidly migrating from legacy HBM to high-end HBM3E 12-Hi [2].
- ASIC customer negotiations for 2026 volumes are expected to wrap up in 2H25 [6].

### 3. Mobile DRAM Customers (China-Centric)
Beyond HBM, SK Hynix has direct sales of mobile / conventional DRAM to handset OEMs:
- **Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi** account for over 40% of China-region mobile DRAM as of 1Q25 [1].
- Combined China share across product lines (mobile, PC, NAND) is 20–30% of total revenue [1].
- HBM has **no direct sales to China** [1].

### 4. Server / Enterprise SSD Customers
General server, AI data center, and cloud customers buy server DRAM modules (DDR5 RDIMM, 256GB high-density modules) and enterprise SSDs. Management notes that "customer request to secure medium to long-term supply volumes have significantly increased" — customers now view memory price/supply as a key business risk and are pushing for multi-year LTAs (long-term agreements) [12].

---

## Key Suppliers and Strategic Partners

SK Hynix's supplier ecosystem covers (a) foundry / packaging partners, (b) semiconductor equipment vendors, (c) industrial gases & raw materials, and (d) energy.

### 1. TSMC — Strategic Foundry Partner for HBM4
TSMC is SK Hynix's most critical external manufacturing partner:
- **"Strong partnership with TSMC for manufacturing base dies in HBM4 chips"** is highlighted as a key competitive advantage and accelerator of the customized HBM roadmap [3].
- Base dies in HBM4 will be made on TSMC logic process — a shift from the prior all-in-house DRAM-process base die approach.

### 2. Semiconductor Equipment Vendors
SK Hynix consumes a wide range of front-end and back-end tools. CLSA's coverage flags specific Korean equipment names as deeply tied to SK Hynix's HBM ramp:
- **Hanmi Semiconductor** — CLSA's note title literally describes it as "Irreplaceable" for SK Hynix HBM (TC bonder supplier; SK Hynix is its main customer along with Micron) — published in "Hanmi Semiconductor - HC O-PF (Irreplaceable)", CLSA, 18 May 2025 [Source 13 below].
- Other supplier names appearing in CLSA's Korea Memory ecosystem coverage include **HPSP**, **AMEC** (China deposition), and **Tokyo Ohka** (photoresist) — see "HPSP - HLD (Not there yet)" and "AMEC - O-PF (Riding on domestic memory growth)" listings in the CLSA archive.
- Vendor diversification is "a natural part of Hynix's strategy to reduce operation risk and improve efficiency" [1].

### 3. Industrial Gases, Metals and Energy Inputs
Management explicitly addressed key raw-material supply chain dependencies on the Q1 2026 earnings call:
- **Helium and bromine** — dependent on the Middle East; suppliers have been diversified and "sufficient inventory" has been built up [10].
- **Tungsten** — imported from China; despite price rises from geopolitical issues, sufficient inventory has been secured [10].
- **LNG** — used for self-powered generation, sourced via long-term agreements that "keep any price fluctuations to the minimum" [10].

### 4. Solidigm (NAND/SSD subsidiary)
While technically a subsidiary (acquired from Intel's NAND business via SK hynix's parent), Solidigm is treated as a strategic internal capability rather than an arm's-length supplier — it strengthens SK Hynix's position in **high-capacity QLC enterprise SSDs** for AI data centers [11].

### 5. Kioxia (Equity / Strategic Linkage)
SK Hynix holds an investment in **Kioxia** (Japanese NAND maker), which contributed a ₩1.9 trillion valuation gain to net non-op income in 1Q25 — a strategic alignment in the NAND industry rather than a direct supply relationship (CLSA, "Sticking with HBM guidance", 24 Apr 2025).

---

## Customer & Supplier Concentration Summary Table

| Bucket | Key Names | Share / Note |
|---|---|---|
| HBM customer — anchor | **NVIDIA** | ~70–80% of HBM (declining from 95% in 2023) [1][4] |
| HBM customer — ASIC | **Google, Meta, Broadcom, Marvell** | ~25–30% of HBM revenue in 2025 [2] |
| Mobile DRAM (China) | **Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi** | >40% of China DRAM; China = 20–30% of group revenue [1] |
| Server / Cloud DRAM & SSD | Major hyperscalers / OEMs | Multi-year LTAs being negotiated [12] |
| Foundry partner (HBM4 base die) | **TSMC** | Strategic — accelerates customized HBM [3] |
| Equipment — TC bonder | **Hanmi Semiconductor** | Sole / dominant supplier; described as "Irreplaceable" (CLSA, 18 May 2025) |
| Industrial gases | Diversified vendors | Helium / bromine — Middle East sourced [10] |
| Metals | Chinese suppliers | Tungsten — diversified inventory [10] |
| Energy | LNG long-term contracts | Self-power generation [10] |
| NAND / SSD subsidiary | **Solidigm** | High-capacity QLC enterprise SSDs [11] |
| NAND strategic stake | **Kioxia** | Equity-method investment (valuation gain in 1Q25) |

---

## Strategic Read-Across

1. **Customer concentration risk is declining but still high.** NVIDIA share dropping from 95% → ~70% is a positive structural shift, but NVIDIA + Google + Meta + Broadcom + Marvell represent virtually all HBM economics. The "HBM is diverging from the conventional DRAM market, shifting from a commodity, produce-first-then-supply model to a foundry-like, order-first-then-produce approach" [6] — meaning customer relationships now look more like long-term capacity reservations than spot sales.

2. **Supply chain has shifted from purely intra-Korea to a TSMC-dependent model.** With HBM4 base dies manufactured at TSMC, SK Hynix's competitive position now depends on a Taiwanese foundry — a notable change from its historical fully-vertical model.

3. **Equipment supplier risk is concentrated in a handful of names** (Hanmi for TC bonders most notably), making them strategically irreplaceable. CLSA's "Irreplaceable" framing on Hanmi reflects that single-vendor exposure.

4. **Multi-year LTAs are becoming standard.** Customers (NVIDIA and ASIC players) are pushing for medium-to-long-term volume commitments, which improves SK Hynix's demand visibility and capex efficiency while reducing memory-cycle volatility [12].

---

**Sources**
[1] SK Hynix — HC O-PF (Takeaways from virtual NDR) — CLSA (13 May 2025) — 607959246LinqAlpha.PDF
[2] SK Hynix — HC O-PF (Correction a good entry point) — CLSA (3 Mar 2025) — 607952105LinqAlpha.PDF — ASIC customer disclosure
[3] SK Hynix — HC O-PF (Correction a good entry point) — CLSA (3 Mar 2025) — 607952105LinqAlpha.PDF — TSMC partnership
[4] SK Hynix — HC O-PF (Correction a good entry point) — CLSA (3 Mar 2025) — 607952105LinqAlpha.PDF — NVIDIA share trajectory
[5] SK Hynix — HC O-PF (Correction a good entry point) — CLSA (3 Mar 2025) — 607952105LinqAlpha.PDF — HBM roadmap table
[6] SK Hynix — HC O-PF (Takeaways from virtual NDR) — CLSA (13 May 2025) — 607959246LinqAlpha.PDF — 2026 negotiations / order-first model
[7] SK Hynix — HC O-PF (Well positioned) — CLSA (27 Mar 2025) — 607954221LinqAlpha.PDF — NVIDIA Rubin HBM content
[8] SK Hynix — HC O-PF (Expecting another strong quarter) — CLSA (19 Jun 2025) — 607962387LinqAlpha.PDF — 2026 negotiation timing
[9] SK hynix Q1 2026 Earnings Call (22-Apr-2026) — SOCAMM2 / Vera Rubin
[10] SK hynix Q1 2026 Earnings Call (22-Apr-2026) — helium / bromine / tungsten / LNG supply
[11] SK hynix Q1 2026 Earnings Call (22-Apr-2026) — Solidigm enterprise SSD synergies
[12] SK hynix Q1 2026 Earnings Call (22-Apr-2026) — multi-year LTAs with customers
[13] Hanmi Semiconductor — HC O-PF (Irreplaceable) — CLSA (18 May 2025) — 607959765LinqAlpha.PDF

## Citations

- [1] **607959246LinqAlpha.PDF** · clsa — <s3://ext-linq-rms-clsa/2025/05/607959246LinqAlpha.PDF>
- [2] **607952105LinqAlpha.PDF** · clsa — <s3://ext-linq-rms-clsa/2025/03/607952105LinqAlpha.PDF>
- [3] **607952105LinqAlpha.PDF** · clsa — <s3://ext-linq-rms-clsa/2025/03/607952105LinqAlpha.PDF>
- [4] **607952105LinqAlpha.PDF** · clsa — <s3://ext-linq-rms-clsa/2025/03/607952105LinqAlpha.PDF>
- [5] **607952105LinqAlpha.PDF** · clsa — <s3://ext-linq-rms-clsa/2025/03/607952105LinqAlpha.PDF>
- [6] **607959246LinqAlpha.PDF** · clsa — <s3://ext-linq-rms-clsa/2025/05/607959246LinqAlpha.PDF>
- [7] **607954221LinqAlpha.PDF** · clsa — <s3://ext-linq-rms-clsa/2025/03/607954221LinqAlpha.PDF>
- [8] **607962387LinqAlpha.PDF** · clsa — <s3://ext-linq-rms-clsa/2025/06/607962387LinqAlpha.PDF>
- [9] **SK hynix, Inc., Q1 2026 Earnings Call, 22-April-2026 8** · external
- [10] **SK hynix, Inc., Q1 2026 Earnings Call, 22-April-2026 8** · external
- [11] **SK hynix, Inc., Q1 2026 Earnings Call, 22-April-2026 8** · external
- [12] **SK hynix, Inc., Q1 2026 Earnings Call, 22-April-2026 8** · external

