View of SK hynix headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — SK hynix, South Korea’s second-largest semiconductor maker, said on Wednesday that it posted the strongest financial results in its history in 2025, propelled by surging demand for advanced memory chips used in artificial intelligence systems — and overtaking longtime rival Samsung Electronics in operating profit for the first time.
The company reported operating profit of 47.2 trillion won, or about $33.1 billion, more than double the previous year’s result. Revenue climbed to 97.1 trillion won, while net income reached 42.9 trillion won, a jump of nearly 117 percent from 2024, according to a regulatory filing.
The results underscored how the rapid global expansion of artificial intelligence has reshaped the semiconductor industry, elevating high bandwidth memory, or HBM — a niche once considered specialized — into one of the most strategically important components of modern computing.
SK hynix has emerged as the leading supplier of such chips, which are essential for training and running large-scale A.I. models. That advantage has allowed the company not only to outpace Samsung in its memory business, but also to surpass the conglomerate’s entire portfolio of operations in profitability last year.
Samsung earlier estimated its total operating profit for 2025 at 43.5 trillion won, placing it below SK hynix’s full-year result.
The shift marks a striking reversal in fortunes. For much of the past decade, SK hynix trailed its larger rival. But as A.I. data centers multiplied and demand for premium memory surged, the balance tilted decisively.
The company’s operating margin reached 49 percent in 2025, approaching its all-time high of 52 percent recorded in 2018. Analysts now expect operating profit to exceed 100 trillion won this year, with margins potentially nearing 60 percent — levels rarely seen in manufacturing industries.
View of SK hynix headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
“In this sector, margins above 30 percent are considered exceptional,” one industry official said. “Crossing 50 percent reflects extraordinary pricing power built on technological dominance.”
The momentum intensified toward the end of the year. In the fourth quarter alone, SK hynix posted operating profit of 19.16 trillion won, up 137 percent from a year earlier, while net income rose more than 90 percent. The results comfortably exceeded market expectations, as server-related demand expanded beyond HBM into conventional memory products.
Company executives said growth accelerated as customers raced to secure stable supplies of advanced chips.
In the dynamic random-access memory market, HBM revenue more than doubled from a year earlier, becoming the single largest driver of the company’s record performance. SK hynix said it has strengthened both profitability and resilience by expanding its portfolio of high value-added products and reinforcing its technological edge.
Looking ahead, the company plans to continue expanding production capacity, emphasizing that it remains the only chipmaker capable of supplying both HBM3E and next-generation HBM4 at scale. Preparations for mass production of HBM4 were completed last September, and large-scale output has already begun to meet customer demand, the company said.
On Jan. 8 (local time), the third day of CES, a video showcasing HBM4 is playing at the SK hynix booth at the Venetian Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Yonhap)
SK hynix also announced shareholder-friendly measures, including the cancellation of 12.2 trillion won worth of treasury shares and dividends totaling 3,000 won per share for fiscal 2025.
Investor enthusiasm has followed. The company’s market capitalization climbed to a record 612 trillion won on Wednesday, with shares closing at 841,000 won — nearly double their level from just three months earlier.
“We aim to move beyond being a simple component supplier,” Song Hyun-jong, president of SK hynix, said in a statement. “Our goal is to become a core infrastructure partner in the A.I. era.”
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
