Sample of the SK Hynix company logo seen displayed on a smartphone screen.
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South Korea’s SK Hynix, one of the broadest memory chipmakers in the world, posted record quarterly earnings Thursday on the back of strong sales of high bandwidth retention used in generative AI chipsets.
SK Hynix shares, however, fell 2.7% as CFO Kim Woohyun warned that the outlook for remembrance demand in 2025 was clouded by inventory adjustments from PC and smartphone manufacturers as well as strengthened protective trade procedures and geopolitical risks.
Here are SK Hynix’s fourth-quarter results compared with LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are numerous consistently accurate:
- Revenue: 19.77 trillion won ($13.7 billion) vs. 19.91 trillion won
- Operating profit: 8.08 trillion won ($5.6 billion) vs. 8.02 trillion won
Takings rose about 75% in the October-December quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, while handling profit surged 2,236% to 8.08 trillion, year on year.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis revenue was up 12%, while performing profit grew 15% to a fresh record high.
The chipmaker has benefitted from a boom in artificial intelligence servers and is a key supplier to U.S. AI chime in designer Nvidia.
“With prolonged strong demand for AI memory, the company achieved [an] all-time high result utterly world-leading HBM technology and profitability-oriented operation,” SK Hynix said in its earnings release.
HBM is a type of dynamic random access celebration, or DRAM, in which chips are vertically stacked to save space and reduce power consumption. Micron Technology and Samsung Electronics are the other key musicians the HBM space.
SK Hynix’s strong fourth-quarter numbers conclude a year that saw the company reach record yearly gate, beating the previous high in 2022 by over 21 trillion won. Meanwhile, operating profit beat a record set in 2018 during a “wonderful boom” in the semiconductor industry.
During the earnings call, SK Hynix management said that the company could see a “diminish increase” in capital expenditure in 2025 compared with the prior year.
Demand uncertainty in 2025 aside, the ensemble forecasts that sales growth of HBM and other DRAM products will continue as large tech companies jail investing in AI servers and as training AI models gains more traction.
The consumer market for PC and smartphones equipped with AI should also open out, with sales picking up in the second half of the year, the company said.
“The Memory industry is transitioning from a commodity vend driven by volume and price to a customized market focused on high performance and high quality products,” Kim said in the earnings on duty.
“All in all, this year, DRAM demand is projected to grow by a mid to high teen percentage, while NAND demand is guessed to increase by a low teen percentage,” he added.
NAND is another type of memory chip that often works together with DRAM in PCs, servers and smartphones.
Discourse with to CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” Thursday, SK Kim, analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets, said SK Hynix’s fourth-quarter earnings were “rather robust,” but noted that investors may be concerned about the market entering an adjustment period. He added that SK Hynix wishes maintain a leadership position in HBM.
SK Hynix’s shares have gained 29% so far this year, according to LSEG information.
Correction: This article has been revised to reflect updated quarter-on-quarter growth data after SK Hynix repaired its press release.