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Demand for AI memory chips propels SK Hynix to its fastest sales growth since 2010

  • Sales at the world’s No 2 maker of memory more than doubled to a bigger-than-expected US$9 billion in the March quarter
  • The South Korean firm’s capacity for its leading-edge HBM chips is fully booked for this year, one analyst says

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SK Hynix’s office in Seongnam, South Korea. Photo: Bloomberg
Bloomberg

SK Hynix said it expects a full recovery in the memory market after artificial intelligence (AI) demand spurred the chip maker to log its fastest pace of revenue expansion since at least 2010.

Sales at the world’s No 2 maker of memory more than doubled to a bigger-than-expected 12.4 trillion won (US$9 billion) in the March quarter. Operating income was 2.89 trillion won, far outperforming estimates for a profit of 1.8 trillion won. It was the company’s second-highest first-quarter operating profit on record.

The company declared it has entered a rebound phase, with the overall memory market on a steady growth path. Capital spending this year will be “somewhat” higher than planned, it said. SK Hynix plans to increase the supply of its leading-edge chip HBM3E chips and take on more customers, it said in an earnings release Thursday.

“This is a clear turnaround and the start of a record-breaking year for SK Hynix,” said Tom Kang, director at Counterpoint Research, adding that he expects the company to hit revenue of almost 61 trillion won and a profit margin of more than 20 per cent this year.

SK Hynix is the leader in the high-bandwidth memory that works alongside Nvidia’s AI accelerators. Photo: dpa
SK Hynix is the leader in the high-bandwidth memory that works alongside Nvidia’s AI accelerators. Photo: dpa

SK Hynix’s HBM capacity is fully booked for this year and the company needs new factories to keep up with the demand, he said.

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