SK Hynix just posted a huge jump in profit, and the details suggest the AI-driven memory chip boom still has a long way to run.

• Profit surged sharply as demand for high-end memory chips used in AI data centers keeps climbing.
• Over half of SK Hynix's 2027-2028 production is already locked into long-term contracts with major cloud companies, and customers are now asking to extend those deals even further, a sign they expect AI demand to stay strong for years.
• Memory demand is so high that customer orders are more than double what the company can currently supply, with chips effectively sold out through 2029.
• The company is spending much more on new factories but says this won't necessarily flood the market with extra supply, since newer, more advanced chips take more effort to produce than older ones.
• AI spending is now spread across many companies (Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, and others) instead of just one or two, which makes the overall boom less likely to crash if any single company slows down.

Outlook: With chips sold out for years and contracts getting locked in further, the memory and AI buildout trade looks set to keep running rather than crash anytime soon.