Source: AFP
The world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, South Korea’s SK Hynix, said on Thursday it had returned to profit after four straight quarters of losses due to demand for chips used in artificial intelligence.
SK Hynix posted an operating profit of 346 billion won ($259.4 million) for the October-December period, compared with a loss of 1.9 trillion won in the same period last year, on strong sales of its flagship products DDR5 and HBM3.
Those sales each grew more than four- and five-fold last year, the company said, with strong demand for chips used in mobile applications as well as artificial intelligence.
SK Hynix said its sales rose 47 percent to 11.3 trillion won in the fourth quarter from a year earlier.
However, it still posted a full-year loss of 9.1 trillion won due to the year-long recession.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/b020dafb6183c622.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/b020dafb6183c622.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
Read also
‘Positive signs’ for chip world as ASML earnings soar
The last time SK Hynix posted a quarterly profit was in the third quarter of 2022, after which it was hit by an industry-wide downturn.
“We achieved a remarkable recovery, posting the first operating profit in the fourth quarter after a prolonged recession, thanks to our technological leadership in the AI memory space,” SK Hynix Vice President Kim Woo-hyun said in a press release.
The chipmaker will “grow into a total AI memory provider” by 2024, Kim said, equipped with “tailored solutions” as it enters what he called “an era for a new leap forward.”
SK Hynix is South Korea’s second most valuable company, with a market capitalization of more than 101 trillion won, after Samsung Electronics’ 443 trillion won.
Samsung Electronics is scheduled to release earnings on January 31.
Source: AFP