SK Hynix Inc. signage on the firm’s workplace in Seongnam, South Korea, on Monday, April 22, 2024. SK Hynix is scheduled to launch earnings figures on April 25. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures
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South Korea’s SK Hynix, one of many largest reminiscence chipmakers on this planet, posted file quarterly earnings Thursday on the again of robust gross sales of excessive bandwidth reminiscence utilized in generative AI chipsets.
SK Hynix shares, nevertheless, fell 2.7% as CFO Woo-Hyun Kim warned that the outlook for reminiscence demand in 2025 was clouded by stock changes from PC and smartphone producers in addition to strengthened protecting commerce insurance policies and geopolitical dangers.
Listed below are SK Hynix’s fourth-quarter outcomes in contrast with LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted towards forecasts from analysts who’re extra constantly correct:
- Income: 19.77 trillion gained ($13.7 billion) vs. 19.91 trillion gained
- Working revenue: 8.08 trillion gained ($5.6 billion) vs. 8.02 trillion gained
Income rose about 75% within the October-December quarter in contrast with the identical interval a yr earlier, whereas working revenue surged 2,236% to eight.08 trillion, yr on yr.
On a quarter-on-quarter foundation income was up 12%, whereas working revenue grew 15% to a recent file excessive.
The chipmaker has benefitted from a growth in synthetic intelligence servers and is a key provider to U.S. AI chip designer Nvidia.
“With extended robust demand for AI reminiscence, the corporate achieved [an] all-time excessive end result by means of world-leading HBM know-how and profitability-oriented operation,” SK Hynix mentioned in its earnings launch.
HBM is a kind of dynamic random entry reminiscence, or DRAM, wherein chips are vertically stacked to avoid wasting area and scale back energy consumption. Micron Know-how and Samsung Electronics are the opposite key gamers the HBM area.
SK Hynix’s robust fourth-quarter numbers conclude a yr that noticed the corporate attain file yearly income, beating the earlier excessive in 2022 by over 21 trillion gained. In the meantime, working revenue beat a file set in 2018 throughout a “tremendous growth” within the semiconductor business.
Demand uncertainty in 2025 apart, the corporate forecasts that demand for HBM and different DRAM merchandise will proceed to extend as giant tech corporations hold investing in AI servers and as coaching AI fashions beneficial properties extra traction.
The buyer marketplace for PC and smartphones outfitted with AI also needs to increase, with gross sales choosing up within the second half of the yr, the corporate mentioned.
“The Reminiscence business is transitioning from a commodity market pushed by quantity and value to a custom-made market centered on excessive efficiency and top quality merchandise,” SK Hynix CFO Woo-Hyun Kim mentioned within the earnings name.
“All in all, this yr, DRAM demand is projected to develop by a mid to excessive teen proportion, whereas NAND demand is predicted to extend by a low teen proportion,” he added.
NAND is one other sort of reminiscence chip that usually works along with DRAM in PCs, servers and smartphones.
Correction: This text has been revised to mirror up to date quarter-on-quarter development knowledge after SK Hynix amended its press launch.
