Memory chip demand to stay firm until H1 2025: SK Hynix CEO

The memory chip market is expected to remain upbeat for some time after the industry was resurrected by robust demand for high-performing memory chips such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), said SK Hynix Inc.'s chief.

“The memory chip market is expected to stay buoyant until the first half of next year,” SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung told employees at a company town hall meeting on Wednesday.

“HBM demand has helped the memory chip industry turn around,” added Kwak, hinting that the AI boom-triggered demand for high-value-added memory chips will maintain the current upward trend for a while.

SK Hynix plans to actively respond to the anticipated rise in demand for memory chips to power AI servers to maintain its lead in the HBM market.

In particular, it is pinning its hopes on sixth-generation HBM chips, or HBM4, which SK Hynix is developing in partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC).

It is expected to roll out the 12-layer HBM4 in the second half of next year.

The South Korean chip giant, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker, is currently leading the global HBM market — ahead of its bigger rival Samsung Electronics Co.

SK Hynix is the only supplier of fifth-generation HBMs, or HBM3Es, to Nvidia Corp.

Samsung Electronics' HBM3E is now undergoing Nvidia’s qualification test, and the company expects it to pass the test during the third quarter of this year.

Kwak, however, said “it remains to be seen” whether the memory chip market’s upturn trend would continue into the second half of next year and beyond.

An SK Hynix official later clarified that Kwak meant the company must study market conditions and supply and demand balance to gauge an outlook; it was not an indication of concern about a downturn in the second half of next year.

SK Hynix reported 5.5 trillion won ($4.1 billion) in operating profit on record quarterly sales of 16.4 trillion won in the second quarter ending in June this year.

Its quarterly operating profit exceeded 5 trillion won for the first time since 2018 during the so-called super cycle.

Korea’s No. 2 memory maker also boasted its best operating profit margin of 33% for the quarter, higher than the 22.6% notched by Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor division.

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.