SK Hynix posts record first-quarter profit, in line with estimates as memory prices rise

South Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix posted another quarter of record profit and revenue on Thursday, as prices for its products continued to rise amid strong demand for AI. While earnings were broadly in line with estimates, revenue missed forecasts.

Here are SK Hynix’s first quarter results compared to LSEG’s conservative estimates, weighted by forecasts from consistently accurate analysts:

• Revenue: 52.58 trillion won ($35.55 billion) vs. 53.55 trillion won
• Operating profit: 37.61 trillion inwin vs. 37.92 trillion

Revenue in the March quarter nearly tripled from the same period last year, surpassing 50 trillion for the first time.

Operating profit grew by a five-year average year-over-year and nearly doubled from the previous quarter, while operating margin also reached a record high of 72%.

SK Hynix makes memory chips used to store data, found in everything from servers to smartphones and laptops.

The company has benefited from growing demand for artificial intelligence as the world’s leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, used in AI datacenters.

“SK Hynix noted that despite the fact that the first quarter is usually a seasonal downturn, strong demand continued due to increased investment in AI infrastructure,” the company said in its earnings release.

HBM falls into the broad category of random access memory, or DRAM — a type of semiconductor memory used to store data and program code that can be found in PCs, workstations and servers.

SK Hynix has won bronze over similar competitors Micron again Samsung in the DRAM market, thanks to its early lead in HBM and its role as a key supplier to the world’s leading AI processor maker. Nvidia. However, rivals have been working to close the gap.

Samsung Electronics said in February it had started shipping more advanced HBM4 chips to undisclosed customers, after SK Hynix began delivering its HBM4 samples in March 2025.

HBM4 is the sixth generation of HBM technology and the most advanced version to date. It is expected to be the main AI memory chip used in Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin architecture, designed for AI-intensive workloads in data centers.

However, Samsung regained the top spot in DRAM revenue in the last three months of the year, according to data from Counterpoint Research. Meanwhile, SK Hynix continued to dominate HBM with a market share of 57%.

Counterpoint added that the DRAM market has recorded 30% quarter-over-quarter growth for two consecutive quarters due to rising memory prices.

The rise in memory prices has caused an increase in the demand for HBM, which has taken up the capacity of manufacturers, resulting in widespread memory shortages in recent areas.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won reportedly said in March 2026 that the global chip wafer shortage is likely to continue until 2030, as HBM demand continues to outstrip supply and production capacity.

He added that building more wafers would take at least four to five years, with projected shortfalls of more than 20%.

MS Hwang, a research analyst at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC that first-quarter results from memory companies “show strong profits and indicate that more memory is needed for AI than expected, with companies scrambling to secure supply.”

Even if the upward trend in memory prices moderates in the second half of the year, SK Hynix’s profits could continue to rise throughout the year, he added.

However, the company may face some headwinds if the conflict in the Middle East extends beyond the second quarter and continues for a long time, continuing to disrupt the supply of key semiconductor manufacturing materials such as helium.

Such a situation could have a negative impact on the entire AI supply chain, Hwang said, although it is not expected to be a long-term problem.