Illustration of the SK Hynix emblem displayed on a telephone display.
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South Korea’s SK Hynix on Thursday topped quarterly income and working revenue estimates, as demand for its excessive bandwidth reminiscence choices utilized in synthetic intelligence chipsets stayed robust.
Listed here are SK Hynix’s first-quarter outcomes versus LSEG SmartEstimates, that are weighted towards forecasts from analysts who’re extra constantly correct:
- Income: 17.64 trillion gained ($12.36 billion) vs. 17.26 trillion gained
- Working revenue: 7.44 trillion gained vs. 6.62 trillion gained
Income rose about 42% within the March quarter in contrast with the identical interval a 12 months earlier, whereas working revenue surged 158%, 12 months on 12 months.
On a quarter-on-quarter foundation, income dropped 11%, whereas working revenue fell 8% from a document excessive within the December quarter.
SK Hynix is a number one provider of dynamic random entry reminiscence — a sort of semiconductor reminiscence present in PCs, workstations and servers that’s used to retailer knowledge and program code.
The corporate warned that macroeconomic uncertainties together with U.S. tariff coverage have created demand volatility that can impression the second half of the 12 months.
“Whereas reciprocal tariff measures between some nations are at present suspended, there are rising issues that tariff might be utilized to semiconductor merchandise,” an SK Hynix govt mentioned in a Thursday earnings name.
Nonetheless, the corporate expects a comparatively restricted impression from tariffs on its synthetic intelligence server demand. In the meantime, demand from client electronics akin to PCs and smartphones is anticipated to profit from the launch of latest merchandise that function AI functionalities this 12 months.
In its earnings launch, SK Hynix credited its first-quarter earnings to AI’s impression within the reminiscence market. It expects Large Tech’s spending on AI to proceed with open-source AI mannequin choices and “sovereign AI tasks” stocking reminiscence demand.
“With growth value lowering, initiatives for AI growth have surged, which has led to a pointy improve in demand,” an organization govt mentioned.
SK Hynix cited DeepSeek’s open-source R1 reasoning mannequin, which achieved aggressive efficiency with restricted {hardware} assets earlier this 12 months, for instance of a catalyst for AI growth.
The corporate has benefitted from a increase in AI servers as a key provider of excessive bandwidth reminiscence, or HBM — a sort of DRAM utilized in synthetic intelligence servers — to purchasers such because the U.S. AI darling Nvidia. Micron Know-how and Samsung Electronics are the opposite gamers within the house.
SK Hynix forecast that its HBM income in 2025 will greater than double from final 12 months.
A report from Counterpoint Analysis earlier this month mentioned that SK Hynix had captured 70% of the HBM market by income share within the first quarter.
This HBM energy helped it overtake Samsung within the general DRAM marketplace for the primary time ever, with a 36% international market share as in comparison with Samsung’s 34%, the report added.
“The announcement that our firm ranked first within the DRAM market in Q1 2025 … displays that our portfolio methods that targeted on extremely worthwhile AI reminiscence was properly executed,” an SK Hynix consultant mentioned.
MS Hwang, a analysis director at Counterpoint, specializing in reminiscence semiconductor analysis, advised CNBC that SK Hynix’s HBM dominance is anticipated to persist via 2025, serving to gasoline its earnings development.
SK Hynix additionally introduced plans on Thursday to construct a brand new fabrication facility in Cheongju, South Korea, that can broaden its manufacturing of next-generation DRAM, together with HBM.
Building of the fab is anticipated to start on the finish of April with an purpose to be accomplished for early mass manufacturing in November 2025. The corporate mentioned its whole funding within the new manufacturing base can be greater than 20 trillion gained over the long run.
Earlier this month, the South Korean authorities introduced a 33 trillion gained help bundle for its chips trade. This was greater than the 26 trillion it dedicated final 12 months because the trade faces the uncertainty posed by Washington’s international commerce tariffs.
SK Hynix shares fell 1.4% in Asia.
