Shares of SK Hynix (NASDAQ:SKHY) are trading lower this Wednesday morning, with SK Hynix stock down 2% to $167.72 after an early dip of 4%. The Korean memory giant pared much of that loss after issuing a formal denial of a Korea JoongAng Daily report claiming it was in talks to acquire Intel‘s (NASDAQ:INTC | INTC Price Prediction) under-construction Ohio semiconductor fab campus.
The move arrives on a session where the broader NASDAQ 100 clawed back most of an early 0.5% drop tied to Middle East tensions, leaving the tape nearly flat on the session.
Denial Pulls the Stock Back After Ohio Fab Report
In a July 22 Korea Exchange regulatory filing, SK Hynix stated it “continuously reviews various business investment and acquisition opportunities” but “has not pursued or decided to acquire Intel’s Ohio site and fab.” The rumor briefly lifted SK Hynix shares, and the denial pulled them back.
Intel separately reaffirmed its commitment to the Ohio project, with Intel stock nearly unchanged at $105.48 as the counterparty in the denied rumor. Moor Insights & Strategy’s Patrick Moorhead called the reported talks “highly unlikely,” reinforcing that the story never had strong industry backing.
The Ohio campus was announced in January 2022 with an initial $28 billion price tag, scaling to as much as $100 billion long term across nearly 1,000 acres and up to eight fabs. The timeline has since slipped to 2030 or 2031, and Washington has been pushing Samsung and SK Hynix toward U.S. memory manufacturing alongside domestic leader Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU).
Intel also has its own foundry story building. Its first publicly named foundry customer under CEO Lip-Bu Tan is Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT), whose SP6 security processor is set to be built on the Intel 4 process node. That backdrop makes any suggestion Intel would offload the Ohio site to a foreign rival a hard sell.
Memory Peers Hold Up as Market Shrugs Off Iran Jitters
The idiosyncratic read is supported by peer action. Micron Technology stock is flat at $971.77, while Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) shares are up 2% to $559.27. If memory as a category were selling off, both would be lower with SK Hynix.
The Roundhill Memory ETF is down 1% to $58.04, reflecting SK Hynix’s weight in the fund rather than a broad memory retreat. The ETF is a narrow, single-theme vehicle, so investors using it as a diversified way to play the memory theme may want to size their positions with concentration and volatility risk in mind.
The macro backdrop featured President Trump threatening to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant each time Iran fires on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, marking an 11th straight night of U.S. strikes. That sent WTI crude oil up 3% to around $87 a barrel and Brent near $94, its highest since June 10. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. “would love” a diplomatic settlement.
The Iran story has little or nothing to do with SK Hynix’s specific move, but the market’s ability to shake it off explains why chip names broadly, including NVIDIA, are steadier than they looked earlier. SK Hynix remains a leading high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supplier to NVIDIA’s AI accelerators, and that structural tailwind is unchanged by today’s rumor cycle.
Options positioning tells a mixed story. SK Hynix’s full-chain put/call ratio sits at 1.6, with the July 31 expiration at 2.11 pointing to some near-term hedging, while longer-dated 2027 strikes skew heavily toward calls.
What to Watch
The next two catalysts are close together. Intel reports its Q2 2026 results on Thursday, which can either validate or complicate the foundry narrative the Ohio story touched. SK Hynix reports on July 29, and Wall Street can watch for HBM shipment commentary and updated capital allocation guidance.
SK Hynix listed its ADRs on the NASDAQ exchange on June 10, raising more than $26 billion, so the U.S.-tape reaction to headlines like this one now matters more directly to shareholders. Traders may want to watch for whether SK Hynix stock stabilizes above the $165 area later Wednesday, and how the DRAM ETF trades if memory peers stay firm through the afternoon.
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