SK Hynix posted higher than expected operating income for 2020 despite price drops in memory semiconductors.
The company said Friday it has posted 31.9 trillion won in sales and 5.01 trillion won in operating income for the full year of 2020.
The figures are a rise of 18% and 84%, respectively, from the previous year.
Net income was 4.75 trillion won, a rise of 137% from 2019.
Sales in the fourth quarter was 7.9 trillion won, a rise of 15% from the same time period a year ago. SK Hynix recorded 965.9 billion won in operating income in the quarter, a 298% increase from the previous year. The company had an operating margin rate of 12%.
SK Hynix said demand from mobile, which started in the third quarter of 2020, continued to the fourth quarter, contributing earnings, despite memory price drops and unfavorable exchange rate.
The company produced 10nm (1z) DRAM and 128-layer NAND flash memories stably for the quarter.
DRAM prices fell 7% from the previous quarter, while NAND flash’s dropped 8%.
SK Hynix said it expects high demand for DRAM this year from global companies investing in new data centers.
5G smartphone shipment, which slowed due to the pandemic, will increase this year and lead to more demand for DRAM, the company said.
In NAND flash, demand from high capacity mobile devices and solid-state drive will lead to growth, SK Hynix said. High inventory build up in the industry will ease within the first half of the year, the company said.
SK Hynix will also continue to pursue its acquisition of Intel’s NAND unit this year.
