SK hynix reports record third-quarter profit as AI memory demand lifts sales
The chipmaker reported record revenue and profit and said capacity is heavily committed through 2029, though some customer demand remains under discussion.
SK hynix reported record third-quarter revenue and profit in Seoul on October 28, according to Yonhap, as demand for memory used in artificial intelligence systems pushed up prices. The results matter to chip buyers and investors because the company says its production capacity is heavily committed through 2029, although some customer demand is still being negotiated.
SK hynix third-quarter earnings and AI memory demand
The South Korean chipmaker reported operating profit of 83.33 trillion won for July through September, up 557.2% from a year earlier, on revenue of 104.61 trillion won, up 327.9%, Yonhap reported, citing its regulatory filing. Net profit rose 215.7% to 39.77 trillion won. The company said revenue and operating profit had reached quarterly records for six consecutive quarters, beginning in the second quarter of last year.
SK hynix attributed its latest results to rising prices for key products as demand for AI memory grew, alongside its position in higher-value chips. Yonhap described the company as a major supplier of high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, to Nvidia, and said it was also benefiting from higher prices for conventional memory. Its third-quarter operating margin exceeded 80%, according to Yonhap.
How much memory capacity is committed through 2029
On a conference call, SK hynix said virtually all its DRAM and HBM production capacity for the next three years, through 2029, had been sold out. It said that assessment includes both volumes secured under long-term agreements and customer demand still under detailed discussion. Its description of demand therefore extends beyond signed orders.
Chief executive Kwak Noh-Jung said the company's customer relationships were leading to long-term contracts and giving it greater visibility into future demand. SK hynix expects memory shortages to persist through 2030 as AI infrastructure investment expands, and said its sixth-generation HBM4 chips would become its main product in the fourth quarter.
Shareholder returns and wider AI chip investment
The company also announced an additional 60 trillion won shareholder return after completing a 40 trillion won program last week, Yonhap reported. It described the combined 2026 return as worth more than 100 trillion won.
Demand for AI computing is also reshaping the wider chip market. Bloomberg reported that Google's tensor processing units have emerged as an alternative to Nvidia graphics processors, and that Oracle announced on October 27 it would offer those Google chips through its cloud infrastructure. That development concerns computing processors rather than SK hynix's memory chips, but illustrates the range of hardware being bought for AI infrastructure.
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Sources and context
- (4th LD) SK hynix logs record profit in Q3 on AI chip supercycleYonhap News Agency
- OpenAI plans to buy Google’s chips as part of its AI build-outBloomberg, republished by The Straits Times
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.