13/07/2026

BIZ & FINANCE MONDAY | JULY 13, 2026

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NEW YORK: SK Hynix chief executive Kwak Noh-jung said the global memory industry is heading for its worst-ever supply shortage in 2027, forecasting that demand for memory will continue to exceed the company’s ability to produce it well into the next decade despite aggressive capacity expansion. “We forecast that next year will be the worst year in the industry’s history from the supply perspective,” Kwak told Reuters in an interview on Friday, the day the South Korean memory chipmaker began trading on Nasdaq. “Our customer demand continues to go up, while our capacity has limitations” he said. “We still forecast that customer demand will remain higher than our supply capacity even beyond 2030. But we are doing our best to solve the problem.” Kwak’s comments follow a stellar debut for the South Korean chipmaker which has become a pivotal company in the AI supply chain by taking the lead in the development of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in Nvidia chipsets. Kwak also said the United States remains one of several candidates for future wafer fabrication investment, although no decision has been made. He said the company would prioritise locations that can provide sufficient land, electricity, water and skilled workers at competitive manufacturing costs. “If those conditions are met, the US, Japan and Southeast Asia are all under consideration,” Kwak said. “Nothing has been decided yet. We are evaluating which location can provide the greatest business advantage.” Beyond expanding overseas, SK Hynix’s main factories are in Icheon, where it is headquartered, and Cheongju, and it is also building a sprawling facility in the city of Yongin. Both SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics are participating in a plan by the South Korean government to double the country’s memory chip production capacity within five years. That includes investment of 400 trillion won (RM1.08 trillion) each for chip production facilities in the southwest of the country. The plan has rattled some investors, however, who worry it could expose the firms to greater risk should a downturn occur. In the US, it is investing around US$4 billion to build an advanced chip packaging factory in Indiana.

SK Hynix expects worst memory shortage in 2027 SK Hynix executives attend the company’s opening bell ceremony at the Nasdaq market on the day of their IPO in New York City on Friday. – REUTERSPIC

probe candidates about unreleased Apple products. According to the complaint, about 400 employees at OpenAI are former Apple staffers. Tan also allegedly told Apple employees to bring physical components, such as batteries, circuit boards, and other parts, to interviews for “show and tell” sessions. Apple described its findings as “the tip of the iceberg,“ saying it had limited visibility into what was happening behind OpenAI’s closed doors. “OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets,“ the complaint said. – AFP SK Hynix has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom, thanks to its big bets on HBM, once scorned but now seen as canny. Operating profit hit a record 47 trillion won in 2025, double what it made the year before and coming back from an operating loss in 2023. Momentum has continued into this year. The April-June quarter is likely to be even more eye-popping, with an LSEG SmartEstimate putting operating profit at 65.5 trillion won. The company’s shares have also soared. While concerns about the sustainability of the AI share rally have resulted in an 18% slide for SK Hynix shares in the past two weeks, they are up more than sevenfold over the past 12 months. – Reuters

company co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive – and two former Apple employees: Tang Yew Tan, now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, and engineer Chang Liu. Apple said it was seeking damages and an injunction barring OpenAI from using its confidential information, calling the lawsuit necessary after OpenAI failed to respond to concerns the company raised in February. Tan spent 24 years at Apple, most recently as vice-president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, before co-founding io Products, which OpenAI acquired for roughly US$6.5 billion in 2025. Apple alleged that Tan used confidential project code names during OpenAI job interviews to The optimistic view was reinforced on Thursday, when Micron said it plans to invest more than US$250 billion in the United States through 2035, up from the US$200 billion plan it announced last year, citing surging demand for memory chips in the AI era and President Donald Trump’s push to strengthen domestic semiconductor manufacturing. next year, supported by strong cloud backlogs, improving returns on AI investment and growing demand for compute-intensive AI applications. The bank said the roughly US$244 billion raised by leading hyperscalers this year largely reflects balance sheet optimisation rather than signs of funding stress, arguing that capital remains readily available to support continued infrastructure investment.

Meta is looking to commercialise excess AI computing capacity. Industry executives and analysts, however, argue that memory supply continues to lag demand. Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said last month that shortages of AI memory would continue for several years due to strong demand, adding that SK Hynix would remain the company’s largest memory supplier. UBS likewise expects the global DRAM industry to remain undersupplied until at least the second quarter of 2028. Similarly, Bank of America remains constructive on the AI investment cycle, estimating that global hyperscaler capital expenditure will reach about US$851 billion this year and US$1.15 trillion

o CEO sees demand outstripping supply beyond 2030 It is also investing US$10 billion to develop an AI solutions company in the US, aiming to find new AI growth engines. Even so, there is some speculation that the AI investment cycle is approaching a turning point, which has been responsible for the recent drag on chip shares. Concerns have mounted following reports that Apple is seeking to diversify parts of its semiconductor supply chain to include Chinese suppliers, and that

Apple sues OpenAI, alleges theft of trade secrets SAN FRANCISCO: Apple last week sued OpenAI, accusing the artificial intelligence company of orchestrating a campaign to steal the iPhone maker’s trade secrets as it tries to develop its own consumer hardware device. OpenAI was itself considering legal action against Apple, alleging the tech giant had failed to adequately promote the ChatGPT integration. suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple’s secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes and products,“ the company said in a statement to AFP.

“At every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,“ Apple said in the 41-page complaint. The suit will significantly complicate OpenAI’s plans for a hotly anticipated initial public offering. The company, valued at roughly US$852 billion, has raised more than US$180 billion from investors, and expanding into consumer hardware was seen as a major opportunity for growth. “Significant evidence has emerged

“We will always defend our teams’ hard work and innovations, and we are taking all appropriate steps to do so.” OpenAI responded to AFP’s request for comment with an e mailed statement on Friday. “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere,“ an OpenAI spokesperson said. The suit names OpenAI, its hardware subsidiary io Products – the

The lawsuit – filed in a federal court in San Jose, California–- paints a picture of an aggressive effort by OpenAI to poach Apple employees and extract confidential information to build its own device. The lawsuit marks a dramatic escalation in tensions between two companies that partnered in 2024 to integrate ChatGPT into Apple’s products. That relationship has since deteriorated. Bloomberg reported in May that