SK hynix US revenue of 84.5648 trillion won — tripled in a year, 64.1% of the total
The SK hynix half-year report puts US revenue for the first half of 2026 at 84.5648 trillion won, or 64.1 percent of total revenue. A year earlier the figure was 27.8344 trillion won, so US sales grew by 56.7304 trillion won and roughly tripled. That concentration matters now because the United States is weighing a second round of semiconductor tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, a provision that lets a president impose tariffs on national-security grounds without a congressional vote. Reports dated August 27, 2026 indicated the review would widen the scope from chips to finished goods such as laptops and servers and would eliminate the data-centre exemption. SK hynix has said it will produce HBM in the United States and is building a 3.87 billion dollar packaging plant in Indiana, while Samsung Electronics is building a roughly 37 billion dollar facility in Taylor, Texas
The three lines
- Number — first-half US revenue of ₩84.5648tn, 64.1% of the total, roughly tripled in a year
- Context — Washington is weighing Section 232 chip tariffs extended to finished goods
- Response — a $3.87bn Indiana packaging plant and a stated plan to make HBM in the US
Key questions
- How much of SK hynix's revenue comes from the United States?
- **64.1 percent in the first half of 2026.** In money that is **84.5648 trillion won**, which implies total first-half revenue of roughly **132 trillion won**. A year earlier US revenue was **27.8344 trillion won**, so the increase is **56.7304 trillion won** and the multiple is about **three times**. Two-thirds of one company's revenue now comes from a single country. The driver is **HBM** — high-bandwidth memory — plus rising prices for commodity DRAM and NAND. AI data-centre investment is concentrated in the United States, so revenue from selling the parts concentrates there too. Samsung Electronics moved the same way, with US revenue more than doubling in the first half of this year.
- Why are chip tariffs a problem for this company?
- **Because a tariff on the market that supplies two-thirds of your revenue has to be absorbed somewhere.** The US Commerce Department has been investigating since mid-April 2026, under **Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act**, whether imports of semiconductors, semiconductor equipment and derivative products threaten national security. Section 232 lets a president impose tariffs on that finding **without a congressional vote** — the mechanism is covered in our piece on Section 232. Reporting on **August 27, 2026** indicated the second review differs in two ways. ① Scope widens from chips to **finished goods such as laptops and servers**. ② The **data-centre exemption is removed**. The second is the heavier one, because the end demand for HBM is the data centre.
- How are the companies responding?
- **By building inside the United States.** Tariffs apply at the border, so goods made in the US do not pay them. SK hynix is building a **$3.87 billion (about ₩5.6 trillion) packaging plant in Indiana** and has said it will **produce HBM in the United States**. Samsung Electronics is investing roughly **$37 billion (about ₩52 trillion) in Taylor, Texas**. The problem with this response is timing. Announcing a plant and running production are separated by years; a tariff, once decided, applies immediately. **There will be a window in which the tariff has arrived and the plant has not.** Who bears the cost in that window — the manufacturer's margin, the data-centre customer, or the end price — is what determines the actual damage.
One number in SK hynix's half-year report is now the heaviest one it has. US revenue of 84.5648 trillion won in the first half of 2026 — 64.1 percent of total revenue.
A year earlier it was 27.8344 trillion won. That is an increase of 56.7304 trillion won, roughly three times.
1. The numbers
| Item | H1 2025 | H1 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| US revenue | ₩27.8344tn | ₩84.5648tn |
| Increase | — | +₩56.7304tn |
| Multiple | — | about 3.0x |
| Share of total revenue | — | 64.1% |
| (Derived) total H1 revenue | — | about ₩132tn |
Two-thirds of the company's revenue comes from one country. That concentration is exactly what lifted results over the past year: AI data-centre investment went to the United States, and revenue from selling the HBM inside those data centres followed.
The same condition now reads as a risk. Revenue concentrated in one country means earnings hang on one country's policy.
2. That policy — the second Section 232 review
Since mid-April 2026 the US Commerce Department has been investigating imports of semiconductors, semiconductor equipment and derivative products under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. Section 232 allows a president, on a national-security finding, to impose tariffs without a congressional vote.
Reporting dated August 27, 2026 indicated the second review differs from earlier discussion in two respects.
| Item | Earlier discussion | Second review |
|---|---|---|
| Products | Mostly chips | Finished goods too — laptops, servers |
| Data centres | Exempt | Exemption removed |
The second is the heavier one for this company, because the end demand for HBM is the data centre. Even without exporting the chip directly, if the server it sits inside pays a tariff, demand is suppressed.
The mechanics and history of the provision are covered in "What Section 232 tariffs are." Worth recording alongside it: on August 28 the report drove ₩1.7564 trillion of net foreign selling on the KOSPI (see "KOSPI closes at 6,788.88 on August 28, 2026").
3. The response — build inside
Tariffs apply at the border. Production inside the United States does not cross one.
| Company | US investment | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| SK hynix | Indiana packaging plant | $3.87bn (about ₩5.6tn) |
| Samsung Electronics | Taylor, Texas fab | about $37bn (about ₩52tn) |
SK hynix has additionally said it will produce HBM in the United States.
The problem is timing.
| Item | Time required |
|---|---|
| Tariff takes effect | Immediately once decided |
| Groundbreaking to production | Typically years |
A window in which the tariff has arrived and the plant has not is unavoidable. Who absorbs the added cost in that window — the manufacturer's margin, the data-centre operator, or the final price — determines the real damage.
Products with few alternative suppliers, like HBM, pass costs through relatively easily. Commodity DRAM and NAND do not. That is why the same tariff lands with different force on different products.
4. A caution on the number
"US revenue" is not the same as "exports exposed to tariffs." Geographic revenue can be booked on where goods physically arrived or on where the contracting counterparty is headquartered. Volume bought by a US company and installed in a data centre elsewhere can still be booked as US revenue.
This page did not verify the basis used in the filing. So we cannot say the whole ₩84.5648 trillion sits in the tariff's line of fire. What is certain is the concentration itself.
5. What is unresolved
- Tariff details — rate, effective date and product list had not been announced as of August 30.
- Revenue basis — how the US revenue figure is compiled was not verified against the filing.
- US HBM production — start date and capacity have not been disclosed.
- Investment progress — actual execution at the Indiana and Taylor sites was not verified.
- Pass-through — we did not estimate cost pass-through rates by product.
Sources
- Daum News (Yonhap) — 'US weighs wider chip tariffs'... SK hynix says it will produce HBM in America
- Daum News — Three variables inside the chip-tariff fear: how Samsung and SK hynix are calculating
- Edaily TV — Heavy US pressure: what chip tariffs would cost Samsung and SK
- NewsQuest — Trump signals chip tariffs; Samsung Electronics and SK hynix on alert
- Hankyung Business — Samsung and SK hynix on high alert as Washington raises a chip tariff bomb