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SK Hynix disclosed roughly ten multi year memory supply deals with deposit backed terms, pulling pricing volatility out of the largest AI contracts and pushing it onto smaller buyers.
SK Hynix disclosed "around ten" long-term supply agreements with key customers on its Q2 earnings call, many of them AI players. The contracts run up to five years. They include a mechanism SK Hynix president Song Hyeon-jong described as "deposits that can strengthen contract implementation and demand visibility": non-refundable money on the table in exchange for a price band and a supply guarantee. The largest AI buyers are smoothing out the cycle. Everyone else is taking the residual volatility.
For decades the memory chip market, covering DRAM for system memory, NAND for storage, and HBM, the stacked DRAM that sits next to AI accelerators, ran on its own clock. Prices swung with PC and phone demand, and chip makers rode the cycle. The new contracts are a different shape. A hyperscaler that locks in five years of volume at a fixed pricing window has done what a utility buyer does. It has bought predictability and left the swings for the spot market.
The financial results explain why SK Hynix accepted the terms. Q2 revenue came in at ₩79.3 trillion ($54.5 billion), up 257% year-over-year. Operating profit hit ₩60.5 trillion ($41.6 billion), up 557%. Net income exceeded revenue because the company booked asset sales alongside the operating beat (The Register). Average selling prices for DRAM rose 30% year-over-year; NAND, 50%. Both came on higher shipments, not just mix.
Q3 guidance is the second signal. NAND shipments are expected to rise by a low single-digit percentage. DRAM shipments are guided up about 10%, with higher HBM4 volume and higher ASPs. HBM4 is the latest generation of high-bandwidth memory and carries higher margins than standard DRAM. The mix shift, paired with contracts that lock in volume, points the same way: the highest-margin demand is concentrated in a small number of buyers, and the contracts are designed to keep it that way.
The market is not entirely sold. SK Hynix's share price fell about 5% after the call, despite the record results. The Register notes the skepticism is straightforward: when a handful of buyers set the contract terms, supplier margins become a function of how disciplined those buyers stay. SK Hynix IR head Park Seong-hwan pushed back, arguing memory demand will hold even if hyperscalers face over-capacity, citing hyperscaler datacenter leasing as utilization evidence and adding that more efficient AI models will not erode memory demand.
The Register's reporting does not include a hyperscaler or smaller-buyer voice confirming the deal terms, and no customer names or deposit sizes have been disclosed. The mechanism, long-term contracts with deposit-backed smoothing, is on the record because SK Hynix put it there. The question is who pays for the volatility the contracts remove: smaller server buyers, device makers, and eventually the consumer market that buys the phones, laptops, and SSDs those chips end up in.
Q3 results are due in October. Watch NAND shipment guidance and the HBM4 mix. If DRAM ASP holds above 30% year-over-year while the deposit-backed contracts scale, the pricing dynamic is structural. If it slips, the cycle is back.