--- title: "Samsung and SK Hynix Capital Expenditure Surges 35% in First Half! NVIDIA Not Among Samsung's Top Five Customers" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/296101769.md" description: "In the first half of 2026, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's combined semiconductor facility investment reached 43.2 trillion South Korean won, a year-on-year increase of 35.1%, with capacity utilization rates hitting 100% to meet robust AI memory demand. In terms of customer structure, NVIDIA's share of SK Hynix's revenue dropped to 13.35%, and it did not make it into Samsung's top five customers, reflecting that AI memory demand is shifting from reliance on NVIDIA towards diversification, with the competitive focus turning to next-generation products and a broader base of AI chip customers" datetime: "2026-08-17T12:01:00.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/296101769.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/296101769.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/296101769.md) --- # Samsung and SK Hynix Capital Expenditure Surges 35% in First Half! NVIDIA Not Among Samsung's Top Five Customers Driven by artificial intelligence demand, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are aggressively expanding production capacity, with the two companies' combined semiconductor facility investment in the first half of 2026 increasing by over 30% year-on-year. On August 17, citing the semi-annual reports of both companies for 2026, Korean media Etoday reported that **Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's combined semiconductor facility investment in the first half reached 43.198 trillion South Korean won, a 35.1% increase from 31.98 trillion South Korean won in the same period last year.** The capacity utilization rate for both companies reached 100%, indicating strong current demand for AI memory. Regarding customer structure, **NVIDIA's share of SK Hynix's revenue fell from 24% for the full year 2025 to 13.35%, while NVIDIA did not even appear among Samsung's top five customers during the same period.** This reflects the differing paths in AI business layout between the two companies. ## Robust AI Demand Drives Accelerated Capacity Expansion by Two Memory Giants In terms of investment pace, **SK Hynix's expansion is more aggressive**. Samsung Electronics' DS Division saw its facility investment grow by 23.5% year-on-year in the first half, mainly directed towards next-generation memory, advanced process capacity, and related infrastructure; SK Hynix's facility investment surged by 56.4% year-on-year, focusing on meeting the demand for HBM, high-capacity DRAM, and enterprise SSDs. The capacity utilization rate for both companies reached 100%, meaning existing capacity is basically operating at full load. Against the backdrop of continuous advancement in AI infrastructure construction, the rapid growth in demand for high-end memory products such as HBM has also prompted Samsung and SK Hynix to expand capacity for next-generation products in advance. **In other words, this round of capital expenditure is not merely about catching up with current demand, but rather about competing for capacity and technological advantages in the next wave of AI memory growth.** ## R&D Spending Hits Record Highs, with SK Hynix's Growth Rate Nearly Doubling Beyond the expansion of capital expenditure, both companies are simultaneously increasing their R&D investment. **Samsung Electronics' company-wide R&D expenditure in the first half reached 27.363 trillion South Korean won, a 51.5% year-on-year increase, setting a new historical high for any first-half period.** However, Samsung did not separately disclose the R&D investment of its DS Division. **SK Hynix's R&D investment growth was even more prominent, reaching 6.043 trillion South Korean won in the first half, a 98.4% year-on-year increase, equivalent to approximately 90% of its full-year R&D expenditure in 2025.** Competition among memory manufacturers is extending from traditional process and capacity competition further into the AI computing ecosystem. According to Korean media, Micron recently launched the $250 million Micron Ventures Paradigm Fund, the largest venture capital fund in the company's history to date, focusing on areas such as AI model architecture, computing, enterprise applications, and physical AI. Its intention is to lay out potential AI technology trends in advance and establish a partner network related to next-generation memory and computing products. ## AI Memory Demand Shifts from "Reliance on NVIDIA" to "Diversification" The semi-annual reports show that changes in customer structure are one of the most significant highlights of this period. According to the Seoul Economic Daily, SK Hynix's revenue from NVIDIA in the first half of 2026 reached 17.6087 trillion South Korean won, accounting for 13.35% of total revenue, lower than the 24% share for the full year 2025. This change does not mean that NVIDIA's importance has declined. On the contrary, **SK Hynix is expanding supplies for self-developed AI chips from large technology companies, thereby making its customer structure more diversified.** As SK Hynix advances HBM4 supply in coordination with NVIDIA's Vera Rubin platform, NVIDIA's contribution to its revenue is still expected to rebound in the second half of the year. **Samsung's customer structure shows higher concentration. According to its semi-annual report, the combined revenue share of its top five customers is approximately 25%, while NVIDIA failed to enter this list.** This means that while demand for AI chips is exploding, the relationship between memory manufacturers and customers is changing: NVIDIA remains one of the most important customers in the HBM market, but as tech giants like Alphabet and Amazon accelerate their self-developed ASICs, the sources of AI memory demand are becoming more dispersed. For Samsung and SK Hynix, the upcoming competition is not just about "who can produce more HBM," but also about who can faster penetrate the ever-expanding AI chip customer base and lock in more core customers for next-generation products like HBM4. ### Related Stocks - [NVDA.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDA.US.md) - [SKHY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SKHY.US.md) - [NVDL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDL.US.md) - [NVDU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDU.US.md) - [NVDS.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDS.US.md) - [NVDD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDD.US.md) - [NVDX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDX.US.md) - [07788.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07788.HK.md) - [07709.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07709.HK.md) - [07388.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07388.HK.md) - [NVDY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDY.US.md) - [EWY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/EWY.US.md) - [NVDQ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDQ.US.md) - [NVD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVD.US.md) - [NVDB.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDB.US.md) - [NVDG.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDG.US.md) - [NVDO.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDO.US.md) - [NVDW.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDW.US.md) - [NVYY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVYY.US.md) - [NYYY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NYYY.US.md) - [DIPS.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/DIPS.US.md) - [MAGX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MAGX.US.md) - [SMH.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SMH.US.md) - [SOXX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SOXX.US.md) - [SOXL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SOXL.US.md) - [SOXQ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SOXQ.US.md) - [XSD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/XSD.US.md) - [PSI.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/PSI.US.md) - [FTXL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/FTXL.US.md) - [03121.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/03121.HK.md) - [09388.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/09388.HK.md) - [SK.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SK.US.md) - [SKHZ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SKHZ.US.md) - [SKUU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SKUU.US.md) - [HYNX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HYNX.US.md) - [SKDD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SKDD.US.md) - [SKHL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SKHL.US.md) - [SKHU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SKHU.US.md) - [SOXS.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SOXS.US.md) - [SSG.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SSG.US.md) - [USD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/USD.US.md) - [SOXW.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SOXW.US.md) - [SOXM.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SOXM.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [AI weekly: Nvidia does deal with Wall Street, China's AI weather forecasts](https://longbridge.com/en/news/295777975.md) - [Nvidia just recruited Wall Street to help fund $500 billion in AI infrastructure. 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