On Thursday, South Korean semiconductor leader SK Hynix announced another quarter of record-breaking profit and revenue, driven by soaring product prices fueled by robust artificial intelligence demand. Although its earnings broadly matched analyst expectations, total revenue fell slightly short of forecasts.

Below is a comparison of SK Hynix’s first-quarter performance against LSEG smart estimates, which prioritize forecasts from consistently accurate analysts:

• Revenue: 52.58 trillion won ($35.55 billion) compared to 53.55 trillion won
• Operating profit: 37.61 trillion won compared to 37.92 trillion won

Revenue for the March quarter nearly tripled compared to the same period last year, marking the first time it surpassed 50 trillion won.

Operating profit increased fivefold year-over-year and nearly doubled from the previous quarter, while the operating margin hit an all-time high of 72%.

SK Hynix shares rose approximately 2.5% in early trading in South Korea.

SK Hynix produces memory chips used for data storage, which are found in devices ranging from servers to smartphones and laptops.

The company credited its record earnings to rising memory prices and booming artificial intelligence demand, with SK Hynix serving as the world’s leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI data centers.

“Despite the fact that the first quarter is typically a seasonal downturn, strong demand persisted due to expanded investments in AI infrastructure,” the company stated in its earnings release.

SK Hynix noted that as artificial intelligence shifts from large-scale model training to agentic AI, which repeatedly performs real-time inference across various service environments, the foundation for memory demand continues to expand.

“The importance of memory has become greater than ever … IT companies now view securing volume as more important than price,” an SK Hynix executive said in an earnings call on Thursday.

SK Hynix’s HBM technology falls under the broader category of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a type of semiconductor memory used to store data and program code found in PCs, workstations, and servers.

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

Samsung Electronics announced in February that it had started shipping its most advanced HBM4 chips to unnamed customers, after SK Hynix began delivering its HBM4 samples in March 2025. Shares of Samsung Electronics hit a new intraday record of 227,000 on Thursday.

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 powerful AI workloads in data centers.

Samsung reclaimed the top spot in DRAM revenue in the last three months of 2025, according to data from Counterpoint Research, though SK Hynix continued to dominate in HBM with a 57% market share.

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

Rising memory prices have resulted from surging demand for HBM, which has occupied manufacturers’ capacity, triggering a broader memory shortage in recent quarters.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won reportedly stated in March 2026 that the global chip wafer shortage is likely to persist until 2030, as demand for HBM continues to outpace supply and strain manufacturing capacity.

He added that building additional wafer supply could take at least four to five years, with a projected shortfall exceeding 20%.

SK Hynix has been actively expanding its production capacity to meet the demand for AI. The company on Wednesday reportedly announced plans to invest 19 trillion won in a new manufacturing plant in South Korea.

MS Hwang, a research analyst at Counterpoint Research, told Verum that first-quarter results from memory companies “show strong profitability and reveal that a lot more memory is needed for AI inference than expected, with companies rushing to secure supply.”

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

However, the company could face some headwinds if the conflict in the Middle East extends beyond the second quarter and becomes prolonged, further disrupting the supply of essential materials for semiconductor manufacturing, such as helium.

Such a scenario could have a critical impact on the entire AI supply chain, Hwang said, although it is not expected to become a long-term issue.