South Korean chip large SK hynix reported report quarterly earnings Thursday because of hovering demand for synthetic intelligence.
The world’s second-largest reminiscence chip maker dominates the marketplace for high-bandwidth reminiscence (HBM) semiconductors and is a key provider for US titan Nvidia.
The agency stated working revenue climbed nearly 70 p.c to 9.21 trillion gained ($6.72 billion) within the second quarter, with revenues coming in at 22.23 trillion gained — each all-time peaks.
The information comes after Taiwan chip large TSMC final week introduced a surge in web revenue for the second quarter, topping forecasts, because of strong demand for AI know-how, regardless of the specter of US tariffs on the essential sector.
HK hynix additionally stated web revenue was up near 70 p.c on-year, at 6.99 trillion gained.
“An aggressive funding by world large tech firms into AI led to a gradual improve in demand for AI reminiscence,” it stated in an announcement.
Shipments of DRAM and NAND flash topped forecasts, boosting the underside line.
“SK hynix foresees that growing competitors amongst large tech firms to boost inference of AI fashions would result in larger demand for high-performance and high-capacity reminiscence merchandise,” the corporate added.
Shares within the agency rose greater than three p.c in Seoul.
South Korea is a serious exporter to america and its powerhouse semiconductor and auto industries would endure vastly underneath President Donald Trump’s threatened 25 p.c tariffs.
Specialists attribute SK hynix’s resilience to its development within the DRAM market.
The agency took the lead in DRAM revenues in April, with a 36 p.c market share, in keeping with specialist analysis agency Counterpoint. That surpassed South Korean rival Samsung for the primary time and marked the primary change within the prime spot in additional than 4 a long time.
The corporate additionally recorded a mixed $15.5 billion in gross sales of DRAM and NAND within the second quarter, matching Samsung to collectively lead the worldwide reminiscence market, in keeping with a Counterpoint report.
SK hynix stated in a convention name that “the earlier quarter started amid issues over slowing demand on account of commerce tensions and broader financial uncertainty”.
However “sturdy AI-related funding by main tech corporations continued to drive development in demand for AI-oriented reminiscence merchandise”.
As america has been threatening sure restrictions on semiconductor gross sales to China, prospects’ preemptive purchases “to hedge in opposition to exterior dangers”, truly created a “extra beneficial atmosphere than initially anticipated”, an SK hynix official stated.
The corporate added that regardless of the geopolitical conditions, its manufacturing state of affairs noticed “no change”.