- The revenue increased approximately 42% during the March quarter when compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, whereas the operating profit jumped by 158% year over year.
- Quarter over quarter, revenues decreased by 11%, with operating profits dropping by 8%.
On Thursday, South Korea-based SK Hynix surpassed expectations for both quarterly revenue and operating profits. This success was driven by robust demand for their high-bandwidth memory products, which are extensively utilized in artificial intelligence chipsets.
Below are SK Hynix’s first-quarter results compared to LSEG SmartEstimates, which place greater emphasis on predictions made by analysts with a history of consistent accuracy:
-
Revenue:
17.64 trillion won ($12.36 billion) compared to 17.26 trillion won -
Operating profit:
7.44 trillion won compared to 6.62 trillion won
The revenue increased approximately 42% during the March quarter when compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, whereas the operating profit jumped by 158% on a yearly basis.
Quarter over quarter, revenues decreased by 11%, with operating profits dropping by 8% from their peak recorded in the December quarter.
SK Hynix is a prominent provider of dynamic random-access memory—a kind of semiconductor storage utilized in personal computers, workstations, andservers for storing data andprogram code.
The firm cautioned that economic instabilities such as the U.S. tariff policies have led to fluctuating demand, which will affect the latter part of the year.
“Although reciprocal tariff actions among certain nations are presently paused, there is increasing worry that tariffs might be imposed on semiconductor goods,” stated an SK Hynix representative during a Thursday conference call following financial results.
Nevertheless, the firm anticipates a fairly minimal effect on its artificial intelligence server requests due to these duties. On the other hand, consumer electronics like personal computers and mobile phones should see an upturn thanks to the introduction of new items with AI capabilities later this year.
SK Hynix attributed its first-quarter profit gains to AI’s influence in the memory sector as stated in their earnings report. They anticipate that major technology companies will keep investing in AI, driven by open-source AI models and various “sovereign AI initiatives,” which should sustain demand for memory products.
A company executive stated, ‘As development costs have decreased, there has been a surge in AI development initiatives, resulting in a significant rise in demand,’
SK Hynix pointed to DeepSeek’s open-source R1 reasoning model, which demonstrated impressive performance using minimal hardware earlier this year, as evidence of progress driving artificial intelligence advancement.
The company has benefitted from a boom in AI servers as a key supplier of high bandwidth memory, or HBM — a type of DRAM used in artificial intelligence servers — to clients such as the U.S. AI darling Nvidia. Micron Technology and Samsung Electronics are the other players in the space.
SK Hynix anticipates that its HBM revenue in 2025 will exceed twice what it was last year.
A
report
Earlier this month, Counterpoint Research reported that SK Hynix secured 70% of the HBM market by revenue share in Q1.
This HBM strength enabled it to surpass Samsung in the overall DRAM market for the first time ever, achieving a 36% global market share compared to Samsung’s 34%, according to the report.
The statement from an SK Hynix spokesperson indicated, “The news that our firm secured the top position in the DRAM market for Q1 2025… demonstrates that our investment strategy emphasizing high-yield AI memory proved successful.”
Ms. Hwang, who serves as the research director at Counterpoint with expertise in memory semiconductors, informed Viral Buzz News that SK Hynix’s leadership in High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) technology is anticipated to continue until 2025, thereby supporting their profit increase.
SK Hynix also
announced plans on Thursday
to construct a new manufacturing plant in Cheongju, South Korea, which will increase its output of advanced DRAM, such as HBM.
The construction of the fabrication plant is scheduled to start by late April, targeting completion for initial large-scale production in November 2025. The firm stated that their overall expenditure towards this new manufacturing site will exceed 20 trillion won in the long run.
Earlier this month, the South Korean administration declared a
33 trillion won support package
for its chips industry. This was higher than the 26 trillion it committed last year as the industry faces the uncertainty posed by Washington’s global trade tariffs.
SK Hynix shares fell 1.4% in Asia.
