SK Hynix achieved its highest-ever quarterly performance, driven by increased demand for artificial intelligence (AI) memory.
On October 29, SK Hynix announced its preliminary earnings for the third quarter of this year, reporting revenue of 24.4489 trillion won and operating profit of 11.3834 trillion won. Revenue rose by 39.2% compared to the same period last year (17.5731 trillion won), while operating profit increased by 61.8% from 7.0303 trillion won. Net profit reached 12.5975 trillion won, more than doubling year-on-year. The company posted an operating margin of 47% and a net profit margin of 52%.
Given that the market consensus was for revenue in the 24 trillion won range and operating profit in the 11 trillion won range, the results slightly exceeded expectations. The company explained that, along with HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), robust demand for general memory products such as high-capacity DDR5 modules and enterprise SSDs (eSSD) drove the strong performance.
In particular, the increase in general DRAM prices, attributed to both AI data centers and replacement demand from existing data centers, was cited as a key factor behind revenue growth. According to the industry, the typical replacement cycle for data center equipment is about 5 to 10 years.
SK Hynix stated, "With customers expanding their investments in AI infrastructure, overall memory demand is surging," adding, "Shipments of HBM3E (12-layer) and DDR5 modules of 128GB or higher more than doubled compared to the previous quarter." In the NAND segment, the proportion of eSSD sales for AI servers also increased.
As of the end of the third quarter, cash and cash equivalents stood at 27.9 trillion won, up 10.9 trillion won from the previous quarter, while borrowings decreased to 24.1 trillion won. As a result, the company shifted to a net cash position of 3.8 trillion won.
The company has completed all negotiations with major customers for next year's HBM supply and plans to begin shipping HBM4 from the fourth quarter, with full-scale sales starting next year. SK Hynix has also secured customer demand for all product lines, including DRAM and NAND, through next year.
At the Cheongju M15X plant, the cleanroom began early operation and equipment installation has started, with next year's investment scale expected to increase compared to this year. The company plans to maintain an optimized investment strategy tailored to market conditions.
Chief Financial Officer Kim Woohyun said, "With technological innovation in AI, the memory market is transitioning to a new paradigm," adding, "We will strengthen our leadership in AI memory based on market-leading products and differentiated technological competitiveness."
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