SK hynix (Herald DB)
SK hynix (Herald DB)

South Korean chipmaking giant SK hynix Inc. said Thursday its second-quarter operating profit surpassed 9 trillion won ($6.53 billion) for the first time, driven by booming demand for artificial intelligence chips, including high bandwidth memory.

In a regulatory filing, the company reported an operating profit of a record 9.21 trillion won for the April-June period, up 68.5 percent from a year ago, setting a new quarterly record.

Revenue jumped 35.4 percent on-year to 22.23 trillion won, while net income soared 69.8 percent to 6.99 trillion won.

Both operating profit and sales exceeded the previous all-time highs set in the fourth quarter of last year.

SK hynix attributed the record-breaking performance to robust AI-related demand, solidifying its status as a world leader in HBM technology.

"Aggressive investments by global big tech companies in AI led to a steady increase in demand for AI memory," the company said in a statement. "Shipments of both DRAM and NAND flash were higher than expected, helping the company log the best quarterly results in its history."

It said sales of its 12-layer HBM3E products and NAND flash memory expanded in the second quarter, contributing to a positive earnings trend, led by its "industry-leading competitiveness in AI memory and profitability-first management discipline."

SK hynix noted that the inventory level remained stable in the three-month period ending in June on increased memory orders and shipments of finished products.

In the second half, demand for memory is expected to continue growing as major customers have plans to launch new products.

The company also forecast stronger demand for high-performance and high-capacity memory chips amid intensifying global competition to enhance AI model inference capabilities.

Ongoing investments by nations to build sovereign AI infrastructure are also expected to generate long-term memory demand, it added.

To meet the growing need, SK hynix said it plans to double its HBM output this year, leveraging its production capabilities and outstanding performance of its products.

It also said it will be ready to provide HBM4, the sixth-generation HBM, based on customer timelines to stay competitive in the AI memory race.

In addition, SK hynix said some of this year's planned investments will be frontloaded to facilitate a smoother supply of key products, including HBM, in 2026.

"We are on track to meet our goal as a 'full stack AI memory provider,' satisfying customers and leading the market expansion through the timely launch of products with best-in-class quality and performance required by the AI ecosystem," said Song Hyun-jong, president and head of the Corporate Center at SK hynix. (Yonhap)