Thanks to AI, the semiconductor market has been experiencing a really dynamic pace in recent years, with the financial and stock market results of individual manufacturers growing in direct proportion to this. Many would think of Nvidia first, but the lead in its field, with the latest quarterly results, is defended by SK Hynix, a South Korean company that only a few years ago mainly supplied smartphone and computer manufacturers.
Record Qurter, Record Sales
In the third quarter, SK Hynix rewrote its history again. Revenue reached KRW 24.45 trillion (US$ 17.13 billion), while operating profit was KRW 11.38 trillion. For the first time in its history, the company surpassed the KRW 10 trillion mark in operating profit for a single quarter. Compared to last year, the company is achieving 60% growth – a performance that confirms that demand for memory chips for AI data centers is at an all-time high.
SKHynix share price performance over the past five years. Source: Investing.com
An integral part of the quarterly results is, of course, the subsequent reaction of the share price. In this case, it was also growth, specifically by more than 5% – the value of the shares has already risen by 210% since the beginning of the year.*
HBM
The basis of success lies in a technology that is almost unknown to the public – High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). It is a special type of dynamic memory (DRAM) that allows incredibly fast data transfer between the processor and the memory. It is thanks to it that Nvidia's chips – the A100, H100 or the new B200 – can train and operate models such as ChatGPT. Overall, SK Hynix currently holds a 64% share of the global HBM market in terms of sales, according to Counterpoint Research, while its production capacities are sold out for the whole of 2026 – a similar trend is expected for 2027.[1]
Looking to the Future
Today, society is in a position that few would have attributed to it a few years ago. The company overtook its eternal rival Samsung Electronics and became the number one in HBM, as well as in the classic DRAM segment. CFO Kim Woohyun commented on the situation: "With AI innovation, the memory market has shifted to a new paradigm – demand is growing across all products." HBM has become a strategic commodity. Every new AI server, every data center, every research model, everything needs more memory. SK Hynix is therefore preparing a massive expansion of production capacity in 2026 to cover this growing demand.
* Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
[1] Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and current expectations, which may be inaccurate, or on the current economic environment, which is subject to change. Such statements are not a guarantee of future performance. They involve risks and other uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements.
