SK Hynix profit jumps 158% as AI chip demand surges

SK Hynix has cemented its dominance in the AI memory chip market with its latest quarterly results, outperforming analyst expectations despite a sequential dip from record highs. The South Korean memory giant’s impressive performance stems largely from its commanding 70% market share in high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips – the critical components powering Nvidia’s AI accelerators and other generative AI systems. This market leadership has helped the company achieve a historic milestone by overtaking rival Samsung in the overall DRAM market for the first time.

The big picture: SK Hynix reported first-quarter revenue of 17.64 trillion won ($12.36 billion) and operating profit of 7.44 trillion won, both exceeding analyst expectations.

• Year-over-year performance showed remarkable growth with revenue increasing 42% and operating profit surging 158% compared to Q1 2024.
• Despite the strong annual growth, the company saw an 11% drop in revenue and 8% decline in operating profit compared to the record-setting December quarter.

Why this matters: SK Hynix’s results demonstrate AI’s transformative impact on the memory market and showcase the company’s strategic positioning within the AI supply chain.

• The company explicitly credited artificial intelligence as a key driver of its profitability in its earnings release.
• As a primary supplier to Nvidia, SK Hynix stands to benefit significantly from continued AI server expansion.

Behind the numbers: SK Hynix has leveraged its HBM dominance to reshape the competitive landscape in the memory chip industry.

• A recent Counterpoint Research report revealed SK Hynix captured 70% of the HBM market by revenue in the first quarter.
• This specialization helped SK Hynix overtake Samsung in the overall DRAM market for the first time, capturing 36% global market share compared to Samsung’s 34%.

Looking ahead: The memory chipmaker expects continued AI investment from major technology companies, though it warns of potential market volatility.

• SK Hynix anticipates growth driven by open-source AI model offerings and “sovereign AI projects” that will fuel memory demand.
• The company cautioned that macroeconomic uncertainties, including tariff policies, could create demand volatility in the second half of 2025.