SK Group’s exports hit an all-time high between January and February, prompted by robust sales from its new affiliate Hynix Semiconductor, the Korean industrial group said Friday.

The group said its seven affiliates together registered 10.6 trillion won ($9.5 billion) in exports in the first two months of this year, up nearly 36 percent from a year ago.

Exports accounted for more than 71 percent of their combined sales, which came in at 14.9 trillion won during the two-month period, the group noted.

The seven companies are SK Innovation, SK Energy, SK Global Chemical, SK Lubricants, SK Chemical, SKC and Hynix. The group did not release divisional figures because it may violate rules imposed by the stock-market regulator.

The record results came less than a month after SK Telecom, the conglomerate’s flagship mobile unit, completed its 3.34 trillion won acquisition of Hynix for a 21.05 percent stake.

The world’s second-largest memory chip maker, which posted nearly 10.4 trillion won in revenues last year, ships more than 95 percent of its output offshore.

Hynix posted almost 2.8 trillion won in sales and 273.5 billion won in profit in the first quarter of 2011.

“The acquisition of Hynix will represent another growth driver at the group level,” said Jeong Dae-ro, an analyst at Daewoo Securities Co. in Seoul.

“It would allow the holdings company to achieve a balanced business portfolio that ensures stable earnings from the telecom business and strong growth from the semiconductors business.”

Though it swung to the red in the last quarter of 2011 amid a slump in the memory chip market, Hynix will turn around strongly as the prices of dynamic random access memory chips and NAND flash bounce back in the first quarter of this year, analysts estimate.

SK officials forecast that the group may touch 60 trillion won in exports by the end of the year.

The data also highlights the unwavering performance of Korea’s third-largest industrial conglomerate despite a slew of scandals engulfing its chairman Chey Tae-won and his family.

In January, Chey was charged with embezzlement after prosecutors found that he and his brother used more than 200 billion won of corporate funds to make up personal trading losses. They deny any wrongdoing.

Shares in SK Holdings inched up 2.06 percent on Friday before closing at 173,000 won. Hynix stocks ended at 30,450 won, up 0.83 percent, versus the KOSPI composite index’s 0.22 percent gain.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)