On January 29, 2021, a man walks past the SK Hynix logo in the lobby of the Bundang office in Seongnam City.
Jung Young Jae | AFP | Getty Images
Korean SK Hynix On Wednesday, the company posted record sales and profits for the quarter, driven by strong demand for high-bandwidth memory used in generative AI chipsets.
Below is a comparison of SK Hynix’s third quarter results and LSEG SmartEstimates. We focus on more consistently accurate analyst forecasts.
Revenue: 24.45 trillion won ($17.13 billion) vs. 24.73 trillion won Operating profit: 11.38 trillion won vs. 11.39 trillion won
Sales in the September quarter increased by approximately 39% year-on-year, and operating profit increased by 62% year-on-year.
Quarter-on-quarter, revenue increased 10% and operating profit increased 24%.
SK Hynix makes memory chips used to store data, found in everything from servers to consumer devices such as smartphones and laptops.
The company has benefited from the artificial intelligence boom as a leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, chips used to power AI data center servers.
SK Hynix said in its financial results announcement, “SK Hynix once again surpassed the previous quarter’s record high performance due to increased sales of high value-added products, as demand across the memory segment surged due to customers’ increased investment in AI infrastructure.”
HBM falls under the broader category of dynamic random access memory (DRAM). DRAM is a type of semiconductor memory used to store data and program code used in PCs, workstations, and servers.
SK Hynix established itself in the DRAM market by gaining an early lead in HBM and establishing itself as a key supplier to the world’s leading AI chip designers. Nvidia.
However, our main competitors are based in the United States; micron A technology giant based in South Korea samsunghas been working to catch up in that space.
Kim Woo-hyun, chief financial officer of SK Hynix, said in the financial results announcement, “With the innovation of AI technology, the memory market has shifted to a new paradigm, and demand has begun to spread to all product areas.”
“We continue to strengthen our AI memory leadership by meeting customer demand through our market-leading products and differentiated technology capabilities,” he added.
MS Hwang, research director at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC that the HBM market is expected to continue to grow rapidly in the coming years and reach approximately $43 billion by 2027, providing strong revenue levers for memory makers such as SK Hynix.
“For SK Hynix to continue generating profits, it is important to maintain and strengthen its competitiveness,” he added.
According to a report by Counterpoint Research earlier this month, SK Hynix held the top share of the DRAM market with 38% by sales in the second quarter of this year, expanding its share after overtaking Samsung in the first quarter.
The report added that the global HBM market grew 178% year-on-year in the second quarter, with SK Hynix dominating the sector with a 64% share.
