SEOOL – South Korean chip giant SK Hynix reported record quarterly profits on Thursday, thanks to soaring demand for artificial intelligence (AI).\n\nThe world’s second-largest memory chipmaker dominates the market for high-bandwidth memory semiconductors and is a key supplier for US titan Nvidia.\n\nThe firm said operating profit climbed almost 70 percent to 9.21 trillion won ($6.72 billion) in the second quarter (Q2), with revenues coming in at 22.23 trillion won ― both all-time peaks.\n\nThe news comes after Taiwan chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) last week announced a surge in net profit for the second quarter, topping forecasts, thanks to robust demand for AI technology, despite the threat of US tariffs on the critical sector.\n\nHK Hynix also said net profit was up close to 70 percent on-year, at 6.99 trillion won.\n\n“An aggressive investment by global big tech companies into AI led to a steady increase in demand for AI memory,” it said in a statement.\n\nShipments of DRAM and NAND flash topped forecasts, boosting the bottom line.\n\n“SK Hynix foresees that increasing competition among big tech companies to enhance inference of AI models would lead to higher demand for high-performance and high-capacity memory products,” the company added.\n\nShares in the firm rose more than 3 percent in Seoul.\n\nSouth Korea is a major exporter to the United States, and its powerhouse semiconductor and auto industries would suffer greatly under President Donald Trump’s threatened 25-percent tariffs.\n\nExperts attribute SK Hynix’s resilience to its growth in the DRAM market.\n\nThe firm took the lead in DRAM revenues in April, with a 36-percent market share, according to specialist research firm Counterpoint. That surpassed South Korean rival Samsung for the first time and marked the first change in the top spot in more than four decades.\n\nThe company also recorded a combined $15.5 billion in sales of DRAM and NAND in the second quarter, matching Samsung to jointly lead the global memory market, according to a Counterpoint report.\n\nSK Hynix said in a conference call that “the previous quarter began amid concerns over slowing demand due to trade tensions and broader economic uncertainty.”\n\nBut “strong AI-related investment by major tech firms continued to drive growth in demand for AI-oriented memory products.”\n\nAs the United States has been threatening certain restrictions on semiconductor sales to China, customers’ preemptive purchases “to hedge against external risks,” actually created a “more favorable environment than initially expected,” an SK Hynix official said.\n\nThe company added that despite the geopolitical situations, its production situation saw “no change.”

SK Hynix posts record Q2 profit

SK Hynix, South Korea's leading memory chipmaker, reported record quarterly profits in Q2 2025 driven by soaring demand for AI technology. The company achieved an operating profit of 9.21 trillion won ($6.72 billion), a 70% increase from the previous year, with revenue reaching 22.23 trillion won, both all-time highs. The firm also secured a 36% market share in DRAM, surpassing Samsung for the first time in over four decades. The profits were bolstered by AI-related investments and preemptive purchases by customers amid trade tensions and geopolitical risks.