SK hynix’s quarterly earnings hit a record high as AI chip demand surges, including HBM. Beats estimates for 2024 revenue and op profit too.South Korea’s No. 2 memory chipmaker said in a filing that its Q4 net profit was 8 trillion won ($5.6 billion) from a loss of 1.37 trillion won a year ago.
Operating profit was 8.08 trillion won, up 20 times from 346 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 74.8% on-year to 19.76 trillion won. Beats estimates. The average estimate was 5.99 trillion won.
SK hynix claims it was due to strong AI memory demand. So, it is now a world leader in HBM.
Net profit stood at a record 19.79 trillion won in 2024, after the company reported a loss of 9.13 trillion won the previous year.
Operating profit was also a record 23.46 trillion won from a loss of 7.73 trillion won in 2023. Previous record was 20.8 trillion won in 2018 during the semiconductor super boom.
Revenue rose 102% to 66.19 trillion won, beating the previous record of 44 trillion won in 2022.
HBM sales grew fast in Q4, accounting for over 40% of total DRAM sales. Enterprise SSD demand was also steady.
SK hynix is leading the HBM industry, which has grown rapidly with a generative AI boom.
