Record profit on the income statement. A fortress balance sheet underneath. And a big spending wave on the way.
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✦ The bottom line
Three views, one healthy picture. Income: record net profit of ₩40.35T (≈$27.28B) in 1Q26. Balance sheet:₩54.3T of cash (≈$36.71B) against ₩19.3T of debt (≈$13.05B) — net cash of ₩35T (≈$23.66B).Cash flow: the company says investment will rise significantly this year — which is exactly why the cash cushion is worth understanding first.
↓ the brief below
Net profit · first quarter 2026
≈$27.28
B
₩40.35 trillion of net profit in a single quarter — a company record. The income statement is firing on every line: record revenue, record operating profit, record bottom line. The natural next question for a beginner is where does all that cash sit, and how much does the company owe?
A balance sheet is a snapshot of what a company owns and owes on a given day. Two of the most important lines are cash (money it can spend right now) and debt (money it has borrowed and must pay back).
Subtract debt from cash and you get net cash. When cash is far bigger than debt — net cash is large and positive — the company can fund itself, ride out a bad year, and keep investing without begging lenders. That's often called a fortress balance sheet. When debt dwarfs cash, the company is leveraged and far more fragile if business turns down.
Wall Street calls this
Cash vs. debt / net cash position
Memory is a *boom-and-bust* business. The thing that lets a memory maker survive the bust — and keep building during it — is a pile of cash bigger than its debts. So the balance sheet isn't a footnote here; it's central to the thesis.
What SK hynix owns vs. owes · end of 1Q26
Cash + equivalents
≈$36.71B (₩54.3T)
Total debt
≈$13.05B (₩19.3T)
Cash dwarfs debt — a fortress balance sheet, with net cash of ≈$23.66B (₩35T). SK hynix could keep investing through a brutal down-year without strain. Won converted at 1 USD = 1,478.97 KRW (Apr 22, 2026).
Why dwell on the cash pile? Because management has told everyone what's coming next: "this year's investment scale will increase significantly." Building new memory fabs costs many billions of dollars and the bills land before the new chips ever sell. The company did not give an exact spending figure in this release — so we won't invent one — but the direction is clear: heavy investment ahead, funded from a position of strength rather than borrowing.
✓
Strong
Record profits and a fortress balance sheet — ₩35T more cash than debt. The cushion is exactly what lets SK hynix spend heavily into the next build-out without putting the company at risk.