SK Hynix Posts Record Quarter on AI Memory Demand, Says Supply Shortfall to Persist Through 2030

SK Hynix reported record third-quarter results Wednesday, with revenue of 104.6 trillion won ($78 billion) and operating profit of 83.3 trillion won ($65.5 billion), marking the South Korean memory chip maker's first quarter above 100 trillion won in sales. Revenue rose 328% year over year and operating profit jumped 632%, yielding an 80% operating margin and beating analyst expectations of 77.5 trillion won. Net income reached 39.8 trillion won, up 216% year over year but down 58% from the prior quarter, which CFO Kim Woo-hyun attributed to 32.6 trillion won in non-operating charges, including an 11.6 trillion won currency loss and a 22.9 trillion won investment valuation loss. SK Hynix said DRAM and high-bandwidth memory volumes are effectively sold out through 2029 and that supply will lag demand through 2030. The company has signed long-term agreements covering over 50% of 2027 and 2028 capacity with 14 customers, including major cloud providers.