SK Hynix announced on the 27th through a public disclosure a new shareholder return policy to be implemented for the next three years starting next year and a 'value-up' plan to increase corporate value.

According to the new shareholder return policy announced on this day, the company decided to maintain the existing policy of using 50% of accumulated free cash flow (FCF) as a source of shareholder return, but increase the annual fixed dividend per share by 25% from the existing 1,200 won to 1,500 won.

SK Hynix explained, “By increasing the fixed dividend, we expect the total cash dividend to expand to 1 trillion won per year going forward,” and “Through this, we hope to meet the expectations of shareholders who have supported and encouraged us to overcome various difficulties and leap forward as a global leader in AI memory.”

He also emphasized, “Although the memory industry may continue to fluctuate in the future, we will pursue a balanced policy of strengthening shareholder returns and financial soundness to continuously protect corporate value.”

To this end, SK Hynix has set specific financial soundness goals of ‘achieving net cash’, meaning that cash holdings exceed debt, and ‘securing adequate cash’, which is an annual investment source to prepare for future growth investments. To achieve this goal, it was decided to use 5% of the annual FCF paid under the existing policy to primarily strengthen the financial structure.

In addition, if this goal is achieved by 2027, when the three-year shareholder return policy ends, additional returns will be made within the scope of maintaining financial soundness. He added that if FCF significantly increases due to favorable management performance, early return may be considered even before the policy expires.

Along with this, SK Hynix also announced a value-up plan to further increase its corporate value.

By introducing the 'CapEx Discipline', the company has specified the annual investment scale to be in the mid-30% range on average compared to sales. In addition, as the AI era is in full swing, customer demands are diversifying and the proportion of premium products is increasing, and the company plans to further solidify its leadership in the AI memory market by establishing a future technology roadmap.

SK Hynix CFO Woo-Hyun Kim said, “As we have wisely overcome the downturn and are expected to achieve our best performance ever this year, surpassing the boom period in 2018, our corporate value has increased significantly.” He added, “In line with this timing, we will implement policies to maintain a stable financial structure along with shareholder returns commensurate with the company’s growth, and we will seek the long-term growth of the company together with our shareholders.”