CEO of SK Hynix, Lucas Cho, recently indicated to Korean media outlet etnews that the memory chip market will continue to be in a positive trend due to robust demand for high-performance storage chips such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). This demand is anticipated to keep the market active at least until the start of 2025.

SK Hynix anticipates that the expansion of the artificial intelligence market will lead to a continuous growth in memory demand, and the company has formulated an aggressive strategy to maintain its competitive edge in HBM. The company plans to supply samples of 12-layer HBM3E to major customers this quarter and commence mass production. Furthermore, it is set to introduce 12-layer HBM4 in the second half of next year, developed in collaboration with TSMC.

Cho has remarked that whether the upturn in the memory chip market will persist into next year and beyond is still "a matter to be observed."

According to SK Hynix's latest financial report for the second quarter of 2024 (ending June 30, 2024), the company's revenue reached 16.42 trillion won (approximately $119.78 billion), a 32% increase QoQ and a 125% increase YoY, setting a new record for quarterly revenue and significantly surpassing the previous record of 13.81 trillion won set in Q2 2022. The operating profit was 5.47 trillion won (about $39.90 billion), with an operating profit margin of 33%, returning to the 5 trillion won level for the first time since 2018; the net profit was 4.12 trillion won (approximately $30.06 billion), with a net profit margin of 25%.

Notably, SK Hynix's operating profit for the first half of the year reached 8.35 trillion won, already making up for last year's operating loss of 7.73 trillion won, with both revenue and profit returning to their peak levels.