'Record 11.4 Trillion' SK hynix to Begin Supplying HBM4 from Q4 (Comprehensive)

SK hynix surpassed 10 trillion won in quarterly operating profit for the first time in its history in the third quarter of this year, driven by strong demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI). As demand for AI memory is expected to continue into next year, the outlook remains positive, with the company already securing customer demand for all Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash memory products for the coming year.

On the 29th, SK hynix announced third quarter revenue of 24,448.9 billion won and operating profit of 11,383.4 billion won. Compared to the same period last year, revenue and operating profit increased by 39.1% and 61.9%, respectively, marking the highest quarterly performance in the company’s history.
SK hynix stated, "With the full-scale rise in DRAM and NAND flash memory prices and increased shipments of high-performance products for AI servers, we achieved record-breaking quarterly results." In particular, operating profit exceeded 10 trillion won for the first time since the company’s founding.
The company explained, "A surge in demand across the memory sector was driven by expanded AI infrastructure investments by customers. The sales expansion of high-value-added products such as HBM3E (High Bandwidth Memory 3E) 12-layer and server-oriented Double Data Rate 5 Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DDR5) enabled us to surpass the previous record for best quarterly performance."
They added, "In particular, demand for AI servers led to more than double the shipments of high-capacity DDR5 (128GB or higher) compared to the previous quarter, and the share of enterprise solid-state drives (SSD) with price premiums for AI servers also increased in the NAND flash memory segment."
Based on these strong results, cash and cash equivalents at the end of the third quarter reached 27,900.0 billion won, up 10,900.0 billion won from the previous quarter. In contrast, borrowings stood at 24,100.0 billion won, enabling the company to transition to a net cash position of 3,800.0 billion won.
The company anticipates that as the AI market rapidly shifts toward inference, there will be a move to distribute the computational load of AI servers across various infrastructures, including general servers. As a result, demand is expected to expand across the memory sector, including high-performance DDR5 and enterprise SSDs.
Additionally, the recent announcements by major AI companies of strategic partnerships and data center expansion plans are seen as positive developments. This is expected to drive balanced demand growth not only for HBM but also for a wide range of products, including general server memory.


SK hynix has completed negotiations with major clients for next year’s HBM supply. Among these, HBM4 (High Bandwidth Memory 4), which completed development and established mass production in September, meets all customer performance requirements and is ready to support the industry’s highest speeds. The company plans to begin shipments in the fourth quarter and expand sales in earnest next year. In addition, due to surging demand for AI memory, SK hynix has secured customer demand for all DRAM and NAND flash memory products through next year.
To respond to demand exceeding expectations, SK hynix has recently opened its cleanroom early and begun equipment installation at the M15X fab to quickly secure new production capacity and accelerate the transition to advanced processes. Accordingly, next year’s investment scale is expected to increase compared to this year, and the company will maintain an optimized investment strategy in line with market conditions.
Kim Woo-hyun, CFO of SK hynix, stated, "With technological innovation in AI, the memory market is shifting to a new paradigm, and demand is expanding across all product areas. We will continue to respond to customer needs with market-leading products and differentiated technological competitiveness, further solidifying our leadership in AI memory."
soup@fnnews.com Im Soo-bin Reporter