SK hynix reported record quarterly earnings for the second quarter on Wednesday, with operating profit of 60.54 trillion won ($41.6 billion), a 557.2 percent jump from a year earlier as memory prices for AI servers kept climbing.
Revenue reached 79.32 trillion won, up 256.8 percent on-year and 51 percent from the first quarter. Net profit came to 93.92 trillion won, up 1,242.5 percent, giving the chipmaker an operating margin of 76 percent and a net margin of 118 percent.
The quarter alone surpassed the company's full-year 2025 operating profit of 47.21 trillion won. First-half revenue totaled 131.9 trillion won, the first time SK hynix has cleared 100 trillion won in a six-month period, with operating profit of 98.15 trillion won.
"Both DRAM and NAND flash recorded sharp price increases following the previous quarter," the company said, adding that sales growth concentrated in high-value products including HBM, DRAM for AI servers and enterprise SSDs.
Cash and cash equivalents climbed 33.6 trillion won from the previous quarter to 88 trillion won, while borrowings edged down 0.7 trillion won to 18.6 trillion won, leaving a net cash position of 69.4 trillion won.
SK hynix said it has wrapped up long-term supply agreement negotiations with roughly 10 customers, including key accounts, and is in further talks with other major buyers. The company attributed the push for multiyear deals to broadening demand as AI shifts toward agents that carry out complex tasks on a user's behalf, lifting orders for conventional memory alongside AI-specific products.
Mass-production shipments of HBM4 began in the second quarter, with output set to expand in the second half. The company said HBM4 met customer-requested operating speeds while achieving what it called industry-leading power efficiency and cost competitiveness. Samples of HBM4E were supplied in the first half.
In NAND, 321-layer products already account for the largest share of output and are targeted to reach half of domestic capacity by year-end. SK hynix has also moved up the production timeline at its M15X fab while maintaining what it described as capital expenditure discipline.
mjh@heraldcorp.com