SK Hynix Inc., a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips to Nvidia Corp., on Thursday reported its highest-ever quarterly profit of 8.08 trillion won ($5.6 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2024, up a whopping 23-fold from the year prior.
The operating profits represented a 15.0% rise from the third quarter on a preliminary basis, according to its regulatory filing.
Revenue in the October-December quarter leapt 12.5% on-quarter to 19.77 trillion won and a 74.8% surge on-year. The results came in line with market expectations.
The stellar performance surpassed that of its bigger rival Samsung Electronics Co. that reported 6.50 trillion won in operating profit during the same period. Its sales are about one-fourth of Samsung’s.
The weaker-than-expected results for Samsung were blamed on soft demand for conventional memory chips for PC and mobile devices, coupled with disappointing sales of smartphones and other mobile devices.
For all of 2024, SK Hynix made a turnaround with an operating profit to 23.47 trillion won from a loss of 7.73 trillion won the year prior. Its revenue doubled to 66.19 trillion won from the year before.
SK Hynix, the world’s No. 2 memory chipmaker, has been at the fore of developing HBM, so-called AI chips, outpacing its bigger rival Samsung Electronics in the advanced chip sector.
By Yeonhee Kim
yhkim@hankyung.com
