Samsung vs SK hynix: How Korea's Two Memory Giants Differ

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix sit side by side in most discussions of Korean stocks and of memory chips. Both make DRAM and NAND flash, both report in calendar quarters, and together they dominate the Korean market. But the two companies are built very differently, and that shows in their results, their shares and how investors read them.

How do they compare at a glance?

	Samsung Electronics	SK hynix
Businesses reported	Four: DS (semiconductors), DX (phones, TVs, appliances), SDC (displays), Harman	One: semiconductors
Q3 2026 revenue	195.3 trillion won	104.6 trillion won
Q3 2026 operating profit	107.4 trillion won	83.3 trillion won
Market value, Oct 30, 2026	1,315 trillion won (common shares)	1,036 trillion won
Largest shareholder	Samsung Life Insurance	SK Square, 20.50%
Share classes	Common and non-voting preferred	Common
Listings outside Korea	GDRs in London	ADSs on Nasdaq (SKHY)
Q3 2026 dividend per share	4,601 won	20,000 won

Sources for each row are in the sections below.

What does each company sell?

SK hynix is almost entirely a memory company. Its 2025 business report lists a single segment, semiconductors, whose products are “DRAM, NAND Flash 등” (DRAM, NAND flash and others), making up 100% of its 97.1 trillion won in 2025 revenue. Its main products, the report says, are DRAM, NAND flash and multi-chip packages. It added to its NAND business by buying Intel’s NAND unit, which it completed in March 2025.

Samsung is a group of businesses. It reports four segments: DS (semiconductors, which covers memory, System LSI and foundry), DX (phones, networks, TVs and appliances), SDC (Samsung Display) and Harman. What Samsung Electronics Makes covers each one. Even so, memory dominates its chip business: in the third quarter of 2026, memory was 140.7 trillion won of DS’s 147.1 trillion won in revenue, about 96%, counting sales within the company.

So SK hynix’s results move almost one-for-one with memory, while Samsung’s also carry phones, TVs and displays. In the third quarter of 2026, Samsung’s phone and network business lost 0.6 trillion won while its chip business earned 106.5 trillion won.

How did their latest quarters compare?

Both reported record results for the third quarter of 2026:

Q3 2026	Samsung Electronics (company)	Samsung DS (chips)	SK hynix
Revenue	195.3 trillion won	147.1 trillion won	104.6 trillion won
Operating profit	107.4 trillion won	106.5 trillion won	83.3 trillion won
Reported on	October 29	October 29	October 28

SK hynix said its operating margin was 80% and that revenue passed 100 trillion won for the first time, with HBM4 shipments beginning “in earnest.” Samsung said it was “the world’s first tech company to exceed KRW 100 trillion in quarterly operating profit.” Samsung’s memory revenue, 140.7 trillion won, was larger than SK hynix’s total, though the two figures are not measured the same way: Samsung’s includes sales to its own other businesses. Samsung does not report memory’s operating profit on its own.

For how the two compare in high-bandwidth memory specifically, see How Samsung and SK hynix Compare in HBM.

How big are they in the market?

On October 30, 2026, at KRX closing prices, Samsung’s common shares were worth 1,315.4 trillion won (about US$986 billion) and SK hynix’s 1,035.8 trillion won (about US$776 billion), at the Bank of Korea’s rate of 1,334.3 won per dollar. On our Korea map, which draws the stocks of the KOSPI 200, Samsung was 30.1% of the total value and SK hynix 23.7%. Third was SK Square, SK hynix’s largest shareholder, at 2.7%.

Samsung’s figure counts only its common shares. Its non-voting preferred shares trade separately and add to the company’s total value.

Who owns them, and what share classes are there?

Samsung Electronics had 5,846,278,608 common shares and 802,371,203 non-voting preferred shares issued on June 30, 2026, after canceling shares it had bought back. Its largest shareholder is Samsung Life Insurance. At the end of 2025 Samsung Life held 8.59%, the National Pension Service 7.77% and Samsung C&T 5.05%, and the largest shareholder with its related parties held 19.84% of the common shares. Its global depositary receipts trade in London; How to Buy Samsung Stock Outside Korea explains them and the preferred shares.

SK hynix has one class of shares. Its largest shareholder is SK Square, which held 146.1 million shares, 20.50%, on June 30, 2026, according to the half-year report. SK Square was split off from SK Telecom in 2021 and took over SK Telecom’s stake. Since July 2026, SK hynix’s American depositary shares have traded on Nasdaq as SKHY, ten to one share; SKHY vs 000660 covers how they work.

How do their dividends compare?

Both pay quarterly. For the third quarter of 2026, according to their dividend filings:

	Samsung Electronics	SK hynix
Dividend per share	4,601 won (common and preferred)	20,000 won
Total	30.0 trillion won	14.1 trillion won
Record date	September 30, 2026	November 30, 2026

SK hynix said its 20,000 won includes a 10,000 won special dividend from its gains on its investment in Kioxia, and that it plans shareholder returns of about 100 trillion won for 2026, including at least 30 trillion won in cash dividends and at least 60 trillion won in share buybacks and cancellations.

How do they report results?

Both use calendar quarters but report differently. Samsung publishes a short estimate of sales and operating profit about a week after each quarter and full results about three weeks later; SK hynix reports once. Why Samsung Reports Earnings Twice explains the difference. Samsung released its fourth-quarter 2025 results on January 29, 2026.

For where both fit among the world’s memory makers, see Who Makes What in Memory.