South Korean chipmaker SK hynix reported on Wednesday that its quarterly operating profit surged more than sixfold to a record high, driven by robust demand for advanced memory chips as major technology companies ramp up investment in artificial intelligence data centers.
The supplier to Nvidia posted an operating profit of 60.5 trillion Korean won (approximately $41.62 billion) for the April-to-June period, compared to 9.2 trillion won in the same period last year. However, this figure fell short of the LSEG SmartEstimate forecast of 64 trillion won, which places greater weight on analysts with a track record of more accurate predictions.
In a statement, SK hynix said: "Driven by continuous demand growth from the expansion of AI infrastructure investment, high-performance products used in AI servers led price increases, allowing the company's performance to surpass the all-time record set in the previous quarter."
Analysts noted that SK hynix missed expectations because its business is more heavily weighted toward the high-end memory chips used in AI data centers compared to rivals, meaning it benefited less from the strong price rises in traditional memory chips. The company reported that its quarterly revenue surged 257% to 79.3 trillion won.
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