SK Hynix Q3 operating profit surges over six-fold, beats forecasts
SK Hynix reported a record quarterly operating profit of 83.3 trillion won, up 6.3 times year-on-year, driven by AI demand for memory chips. The company expects memory chip shortages to persist until 2030 and plans a share buyback worth over 60 trillion won.
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix announced on 28 October that its third-quarter operating profit surged more than six-fold year-on-year to a record 83.3 trillion won, exceeding market expectations. Net profit for the quarter reached 39.78 trillion won, up about 2.16 times from a year earlier.
The strong performance was driven by rising memory chip prices, fuelled by sustained demand from artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. The company said it expects memory chip supply shortages to continue through 2030.
Quarterly revenue jumped nearly 3.3 times to 104.6 trillion won, also above forecasts. SK Hynix plans to buy back and cancel shares worth over 60 trillion won.
Starting this quarter, the company's fourth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) chip will become its flagship product. However, SK Hynix warned that rising memory chip prices and supply shortages would raise costs, leading to a projected decline in shipments of personal computers and smartphones.
Looking ahead, the company forecast that dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) market demand would grow by about 25 per cent year-on-year in 2025. Capital expenditure next year is expected to increase significantly compared with 2024.