South Korean memory maker SK Hynix has recorded its highest quarterly revenue and profit to date in the third quarter thanks to its leadership in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which are in high demand from AI.
The company said on Thursday that it recorded 17.57 trillion won in revenue, 7.3 trillion won in operating profit, and 5.75 trillion won in net profit in the July-September quarter.
The operating profit and net profit figures are SK Hynix’s highest to date since the third quarter of 2018, when it recorded 6.47 trillion won in operating profit and 4.69 trillion won in net profit during the so-called chip supercycle.
The South Korean company credited continued strong demand for AI memory from its data center customers.
This led to expanded sales of its HBM and embedded solid-state drive (SSD) products.
HBM revenue was over 70% higher quarter-to-quarter while it surged 330% compared to the same time period a year ago, SK Hynix said.
The increased average sales price of DRAM and NAND helped its profitability as well, the company noted.
SK Hynix expected the strong demand for HBM and eSSD to continue in 2025 as generative AI develops into multimodal ones that can process complex information from texts, pictures, audio, and videos.
On the low recovery for demand in PCs and mobile, customized AI memory for these product categories launching next year will balance demand and supply to steady their growths, the company predicted.
SK Hynix is expected to start supply of HBM3E 12H in the fourth quarter. HBM is expected to account for 40% of its DRAM revenue in the fourth quarter, a jump from 30% in the third.