By Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s SK Hynix posted its highest quarterly revenue since 2018 on Thursday because the Nvidia (NASDAQ:) provider mentioned second-half AI chip demand will rise additional, resembling for top bandwidth reminiscence (HBM) utilized in generative AI chipsets.
It was SK Hynix’s third consecutive quarterly revenue after losses final yr.
The world’s second-largest reminiscence chipmaker has benefited essentially the most amongst its friends from AI-driven urge for food for high-end chips and enterprise solid-state drives (eSSDs) following its early entry and enormous investments within the segments.
“The corporate will additional solidify the place as a frontrunner in AI reminiscence merchandise … primarily based on a steady monetary construction,” Chief Monetary Officer Kim Woohyun mentioned in a press release.
The corporate reported 5.47 trillion gained ($3.96 billion) in working revenue for the April-June quarter versus a lack of 2.9 trillion gained a yr earlier.
It was the very best revenue because the third quarter of 2018, and in keeping with expectations from LSEG SmartEstimate, weighted towards analysts who’re extra constantly correct.
Income rose 125% on-year to a document quarterly excessive of 16.4 trillion gained.
Explosive demand for high-end DRAM chips resembling HBM, in addition to chips utilized in knowledge centre servers and devices that run on-device AI companies have lifted chip costs.
SK Hynix leads the HBM market as the primary provider of HBM chips to Nvidia, in competitors with U.S. rival Micron (NASDAQ:) and home behemoth Samsung Electronics (KS:). Nvidia instructions some 80% of the AI chip market.
SK Hynix started mass manufacturing of fifth-generation HBM chips – referred to as HBM3E – in March, with preliminary shipments going to Nvidia, sources advised Reuters.
HBMs might account for 20% of SK Hynix’s income for DRAM chips by end-2024, Shinhan Securities mentioned, given Nvidia is predicted to speed up its plans for next-generation GPUs to fulfill hovering demand created by the generative AI increase.
In Could, SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung mentioned its HBM chips have been offered out for this yr and nearly offered out for 2025.
One in every of South Korea’s high inventory picks for the AI increase, SK Hynix shares have risen 47% year-to-date. ($1=1,380.3400 gained)