South Korean Chip Giant SK Hynix reported record quarterly profits on Thursday thanks to rising demand for artificial intelligence.
The world's second largest memory chip manufacturer dominates the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) semiconductor market and is a key supplier of Titan Nvidia in the US.
The company said its operating profit rose nearly 70% in the second quarter to 9.21 trillion won ($67.2 billion) and revenues rose at 22.23 trillion won, both at its highest peak in history.
The news comes after Taiwan's giant TSMC announced last week a surge in net profits for the second quarter, thanks to robust demand for AI technology despite the threat of US tariffs on key sectors.
HK Hynix also said its net profit rose nearly 70% per year to 6.99 trillion won.
“The aggressive investment in AI by leading global high-tech companies has steadily increased demand for AI memory,” the statement said.
Dram and Nand Flash shipments surpassed forecasts and boosted revenue.
“SK Hynix predicts that as competition among the largest tech companies to enhance AI model inference, demand for high-performance and large-capacity memory products will increase,” the company added.
The company's shares rose more than 3% in Seoul.
South Korea is a major exporter to the US, and its power plant's semiconductor and automotive industry will suffer great suffering under the threat of a 25% tariff on President Donald Trump.
Experts attribute it to the growth of SK Hynix's DRAM market.
According to specialized research firm Counterpoint, the company led DRAM revenue in April, gaining a 36% market share. It surpassed its Korean rival Samsung for the first time, marking its first change in position at the top in over 40 years.
The company also recorded $15.5 billion in DRAM and NAND sales in the second quarter, matching Samsung to jointly lead the global memory market, according to a report from Counterpoint.
“The last quarter began amid concerns over trade tensions and slowing demand due to wider economic uncertainty,” Sk Hynix said in a conference call.
However, “strong AI-related investments by major high-tech companies continued to drive the rise in demand for AI-oriented memory products.”
As the US threatens certain restrictions on semiconductor sales to China, preemptive purchases for customers “created a more favorable environment than initially expected” because it “contradicts external risks,” an SK Hynix official said.
The company said its production status “has not changed” despite the geopolitical situation.
