Samsung and SK Hynix Capex Surges 35%, Nvidia Not Among Samsung's Top 5 Customers

AI demand continues to fuel investment in memory technologies, with Samsung Electronics (005930KS) and SK Hynix (000660KS) substantially expanding semiconductor production capacity in the first half of 2026. Combined facility investments reached 43.198 trillion KRW, up 35.1% from 31.98 trillion KRW in the same period last year. Both companies reported 100% capacity utilization, indicating near-full production output.

Notably, customer structures at both memory giants have shifted. Nvidia (NVDA-US) saw a clear decline in its revenue share at SK Hynix and did not appear in Samsung's top five customer list.

According to the companies’ 2026 half-year reports, Samsung and SK Hynix invested a combined 43.198 trillion KRW in semiconductor facilities, exceeding the previous year’s figure. Samsung’s Device Solutions (DS) division increased facility investment by 23.5% year-on-year, focusing on next-generation memory, advanced process capacity, and related infrastructure.

SK Hynix took an even more aggressive investment stance, with facility spending rising 56.4% year-on-year. This was primarily directed toward meeting demand for HBM, high-capacity DRAM, and enterprise SSDs. As AI infrastructure deployment accelerates, demand for high-end memory such as HBM is growing rapidly. Both companies have reached 100% capacity utilization, meaning existing capacity is nearly saturated. They are proactively expanding capacity ahead of next-generation product launches.

This wave of capital expenditure is not only to meet current demand but also to secure a competitive edge in the next phase of the AI memory market—both in production capacity and technological leadership.

In addition to capacity expansion, R&D spending has also risen. Samsung’s total R&D expenditure in the first half of 2026 reached 27.363 trillion KRW, a 51.5% year-on-year increase and a record high for a half-year period. However, the company did not disclose DS division R&D spending separately.

SK Hynix’s R&D expenditure reached 6.043 trillion KRW in the first half, up 98.4% year-on-year—nearly 90% of its full-year 2025 R&D spending. Another significant shift involves customer structure. According to the Seoul Economic Daily, SK Hynix’s revenue from Nvidia in the first half of 2026 was 17.6087 trillion KRW, accounting for 13.35% of total revenue—down sharply from 24% in full-year 2025.

This does not indicate a decline in Nvidia’s importance, but rather reflects SK Hynix’s expanded supply to large tech firms developing their own AI chips, resulting in a more diversified customer base. As SK Hynix advances HBM4 supply in line with Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform, Nvidia’s revenue contribution is expected to rebound in the second half.

In contrast, Samsung’s half-year report showed its top five customers accounted for about 25% of revenue, with Nvidia not among them. As tech giants like Alphabet and Amazon accelerate development of in-house ASICs, demand sources for AI memory are gradually diversifying. For Samsung and SK Hynix, the next phase of competition will extend beyond HBM capacity—it will hinge on which company can more quickly access the expanding base of AI chip customers and secure more key clients in next-generation products like HBM4.