SK hynix posts record profits on surging AI demand
The world's second-largest memory chip maker dominates the market for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) semiconductors and is a key supplier for US titan Nvidia.
The firm said operating profit climbed almost 70 percent to 9.21 trillion won ($6.72 billion) in the second quarter, with revenues coming in at 22.23 trillion won -- both all-time peaks.
The news comes after Taiwan chip giant TSMC last week announced a surge in net profit for the second quarter, topping forecasts, thanks to robust demand for AI technology, despite the threat of US tariffs on the critical sector.
HK hynix also said net profit was up close to 70 percent on-year, at 6.99 trillion won.
"An aggressive investment by global big tech companies into AI led to a steady increase in demand for AI memory," it said in a statement.
Shipments of DRAM and NAND flash topped forecasts, boosting the bottom line.
"SK hynix foresees that increasing competition among big tech companies to enhance inference of AI models would lead to higher demand for high-performance and high-capacity memory products," the company added.
Shares in the firm rose more than three percent in Seoul.
South Korea is a major exporter to the United States and its powerhouse semiconductor and auto industries would suffer greatly under President Donald Trump's threatened 25 percent tariffs.
Experts attribute SK hynix's resilience to its growth in the DRAM market.
The firm took the lead in DRAM revenues in April, with a 36 percent market share, according to specialist research firm Counterpoint. That surpassed South Korean rival Samsung for the first time and marked the first change in the top spot in more than four decades.
The company also recorded a combined $15.5 billion in sales of DRAM and NAND in the second quarter, matching Samsung to jointly lead the global memory market, according to a Counterpoint report.
SK hynix said in a conference call that "the previous quarter began amid concerns over slowing demand due to trade tensions and broader economic uncertainty".
But "strong AI-related investment by major tech firms continued to drive growth in demand for AI-oriented memory products".
As the United States has been threatening certain restrictions on semiconductor sales to China, customers' preemptive purchases "to hedge against external risks", actually created a "more favourable environment than initially expected", an SK hynix official said.
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