J.P. Morgan Asia Technology Tracker 18 May 26 SMIC (0981); ISU Petasys; Samsung Electronics; Silergy Corp; SK hynix and More

Research evidence excerpt

J.P. Morgan Asia Technology Tracker 18 May 26 SMIC (0981); ISU Petasys; Samsung Electronics; Silergy Corp; SK hynix and More

wing to greater

market confidence in 2027E memory earnings and the elongated memory upcycle. Amidst ongoing LTA

discussions with CSP customers, we believe SKH is at a pivotal inflection point to drive structural changes

to the traditional memory business model. Given our belief that the memory S-D imbalance is unlikely to

ease anytime soon, we expect both memory makers and CSPs to strike LTAs, improving the quality of

memory earnings and ultimately acting as a re-rating factor (refer to our LTA deep dive report ). We raise

FY26-28E EPS esimates by 9-20% to reflect stronger pricing outlook (DRAM, NAND and HBM) and raise

our Dec-26 price target to W3M based on 8x FY26/27E EPS. We expect LTA to pave the path for memory

companies to be valued using a new valuation framework.

Global Memory Market, South Korea, Japan

Decomposing LTA contract details: Favorable LTA paves the path for a new valuation framework for

memory makers (Jay Kwon)

LTA status quo update. Since early-26, we believe the the impact of LTA on the memory industry has been

one of the fiercest debates: the bull camp arguing a strong earnings visibility that allows memory makers to

escape cyclicality and potentially re-rate vs. the bear camp arguing a weak business model with lack of

enforceability. Throughout the 1Q26 earnings season, we saw LTA deals crystallizing with multiple AI

component makers within our coverage flagging LTA opportunities (i.e. memory and SEMCO), which was

echoed by US tech peers including INTC (report). Within the memory industry, we have so far witnessed

three LTA cases: 1) MU disclosing a 5-year LTA with limited details (report); 2) NYT’s third-party private