Nvidia supplier SK Hynix posts record quarterly profit on strength of artificial intelligence boom

of South Korea SK HynixOne of the world’s largest memory chipmakers posted a record quarterly profit on Thursday, boosted by strong sales of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is used in generative artificial intelligence.

SK Hynix’s fourth quarter results compared to LSEG SmartEstimate.

• Revenue: 19.91 trillion won vs. 19.77 trillion won ($13.7 billion)
• Operating profit: 8.02 trillion won vs. 8.08 trillion won ($5.6 billion).

In the October-December quarter, operating profit rose 15% from the previous quarter, hitting another record high as revenue rose 12%.

The chipmaker has benefited from the boom in artificial intelligence servers and is a major supplier to the US chip designer. Nvidia.

“SK Hynix highlighted that with long-term strong demand for AI memory, the company achieved (the) all-time high result through world-leading HBM technology and profitability-driven operation,” the company said in a statement. release of profits.

HBM is a type of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, in which chips are stacked vertically to save space and reduce power consumption. The technology is often used in products such as laptops and computers.

SK Hynix, Micron Technology and Samsung Electronics HBM are the top three manufacturers of chips.

The strong fourth-quarter numbers cap a year in which the company posted record annual revenue, surpassing the previous record in 2022 by 21 trillion won. Meanwhile, operating profit broke the record set during the “super boom” in the semiconductor industry in 2018.

Correction: After correcting SK Hynix’s press release, this article has been revised to reflect updated quarter-on-quarter growth data.