Seoul: SK hynix Inc. announced that it achieved record sales and profit in the third quarter, driven by strong demand for its advanced artificial intelligence memory chips. The company, the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, reported an operating profit of 7.03 trillion won (approximately US$5.09 billion), a significant turnaround from a loss of 1.79 trillion won in the same period last year.
According to Yonhap News Agency, SK hynix’s operating profit surpassed expectations by 3.2 percent, as estimated by a survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax. The company’s sales increased by 93.8 percent compared to the previous year, reaching 17.57 trillion won, while its net income rose to 5.75 trillion won, recovering from a deficit of 2.18 trillion won a year earlier. These figures represent record highs for SK hynix in terms of quarterly revenue, operating income, and net income.
The third-quarter sales surpassed the previous record of 16.4 trillion won set in the second quarter of this year. Additionally, the o
perating profit and net profit exceeded prior records of 6.47 trillion won and 4.69 trillion won, respectively, achieved during the semiconductor super boom in the third quarter of 2018.
SK hynix attributed its robust financial performance to the sustained demand for AI memory chips, particularly high-bandwidth memory (HBM) products and embedded solid-state drives (eSSDs). “The demand for AI memory continued to be strong centered on data center customers, and the company marked its highest revenue since its foundation by expanding sales of premium products, such as HBM and eSSD,” the company stated.