South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest reminiscence chipmaker, introduced a return to profitability within the fourth quarter of 2023. The corporate recorded an working revenue of 346 billion received ($259.8 million), considerably outperforming market expectations of a 192 billion received working loss. This marks a stark distinction to the 1.9 trillion received loss reported in the identical quarter a yr earlier. The revenue is attributed to a surge in income by 47%, pushed by robust demand for AI-focused reminiscence chips.
The corporate’s focus has shifted in the direction of high-end reminiscence semiconductors, significantly these utilized in AI chipsets. SK Hynix’s superior DRAM chips, similar to Excessive Bandwidth Reminiscence (HBM) chips, have seen rising demand, particularly in graphic processing items (GPUs) used for processing giant quantities of information in generative AI. A major achievement for SK Hynix in 2023 was the event of HBM3 chips, which it did forward of its rivals. The gross sales of those chips elevated greater than fivefold from the earlier yr.
Trying ahead, SK Hynix goals to begin mass manufacturing of its subsequent HBM model, HBM3E, within the first half of 2024, whereas additionally engaged on the event of the next-generation chip, HBM4. The corporate’s technological management within the AI reminiscence area has been a vital consider its turnaround. Analysts predict that HBM chips will account for 15% of industry-wide DRAM gross sales in 2024, up from 8% in 2023.
Regardless of the optimistic earnings report, SK Hynix’s shares skilled a 2.6% decline in afternoon commerce, attributed to profit-taking by buyers. The corporate’s shares had surged 18% since its final quarterly earnings launch, pushed by the upbeat outlook for AI reminiscence chips. Nonetheless, the broader market is anticipated to see enchancment in chip costs as purchasers restock and producers proceed to chop legacy chip manufacturing.
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