SK Hynix exceeded profit expectations in the second quarter, mainly due to the increased demand for advanced memory chips driven by the rapidly growing artificial intelligence industry, leading to a rise in revenue.
The company achieved an operating profit of 5.47 trillion KRW (4 billion USD) in the three months ending June 30, compared to a loss of 2.88 trillion KRW in the same period last year. This figure surpasses Bloomberg's estimate of 5.24 trillion KRW.
This achievement is backed by a record revenue of 16.42 trillion KRW in the quarter, more than doubling the amount from the same period last year.
The primary driver of profitability was the increased demand for memory chips, particularly high-bandwidth memory chips from the artificial intelligence industry. SK Hynix is the sole large-scale producer of the most advanced HBM3E chips, with NVIDIA, a leading company in the AI field, being one of its largest customers.
The company expects AI demand for memory to continue rising in the second half of the year, with improved demand from the personal computing and mobile industries as more device-supported AI products are released.
The boom in artificial intelligence has significantly revived demand for SK Hynix and the entire chip manufacturing industry over the past year, largely offsetting the impact of weak device sales and reduced technological investments.
