Samsung and SK Hynix buybacks are running a month ahead of schedule, now set to finish in mid-October

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are working through their share repurchase programmes faster than the schedules they filed. The original deadlines were November 21 for Samsung and November 19 for SK Hynix, but Korean coverage this week reports that the current pace points to both finishing by mid-October, roughly a month early.

The execution figures show why. Samsung has spent 10.31 trillion won, or 74.69% of its 53.3 million share plan. SK Hynix has spent 24.39 trillion won, 58.79% of its 24.07 million share plan. Those are large programmes running at a pace that pulls their completion forward rather than letting it drift.

The concern raised in the reporting is what replaces that bid. A Shinhan Investment Securities researcher and other market watchers have argued that the end of the repurchases leaves the KOSPI without an obvious buyer of scale. That is an attributed view rather than a settled conclusion, and the same coverage pairs it with a mitigant: third-quarter earnings and the possibility of further shareholder returns could fill some of the gap.

SK Hynix's own results are the other half of the story, and they need a caveat the headlines drop. Second-quarter revenue reached 79.3 trillion won, up 257% year on year, with operating profit of 60.5 trillion won, an all-time high. That operating profit nonetheless came in below the 64 trillion won analysts had modelled, so a record quarter and a miss are both true of the same print. The share price gained 6.42% on September 18 to 1,857,000 won.

One framing worth correcting: commentary describing the stock as trading at a discount to earnings comes from an algorithmic screening service rather than sell-side research, so it should not be read as an analyst view. What to watch is whether the programmes do in fact close in October and whether any successor return policy is announced alongside third-quarter results.