On April 25, 2024, South Korean semiconductor manufacturer SK Hynix announced its financial report for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024, ending on March 31, 2024. According to the report, the company achieved a consolidated revenue of KRW 12.4296 trillion, operating profit of KRW 2.886 trillion, and net profit of KRW 1.917 trillion in the first quarter of 2024. The operating profit margin was 23%, and the net profit margin was 15%.

SK Hynix recorded its highest ever revenue for the same period and its second-highest operating profit since 2018, marking a significant recovery from a prolonged slump.

The company attributed its success to its leading position in storage technologies for artificial intelligence (AI). It increased sales of its AI server products and focused on profit-making operations, resulting in a remarkable 734% increase in operating profit compared to the previous quarter. Furthermore, the successful reversal of losses in NAND flash was achieved through increased sales of high-end eSSD products and rising average selling prices, which holds great significance for the company.

Looking ahead, SK Hynix expects the demand for AI storage to continue growing, and the demand for general-purpose DRAM products to recover in the second half of the year. Therefore, the semiconductor memory market is expected to show stable growth throughout the year. Industry predictions suggest that due to the larger capacity required for high-end products like HBM, the supply of general-purpose DRAM products may decrease as production shifts towards high-end products. This may result in depletion of inventory for suppliers and customers.

To meet the growing demand for AI storage, SK Hynix plans to expand the supply of its globally first-produced HBM3E products and extend its customer base. Additionally, the company intends to launch its fifth-generation 10nm-class (1b) 32Gb DDR5 DRAM products this year to enhance its market leadership in high-capacity DRAM products for servers.

In terms of NAND flash, SK Hynix will continue optimizing its product lineup to maintain the trend of performance improvement. It will focus on increasing sales of high-performance 16-channel eSSD products and its subsidiary Solidigm's four-level cell (QLC) high-capacity eSSD products. Moreover, the company will timely introduce the fifth-generation PCIe cSSD for AI PCs to meet market demands with the best product line.

Furthermore, SK Hynix plans to invest in expanding its production capacity. The company has announced that it will designate its M15X fab in Cheongju, South Korea as a DRAM production base and accelerate its construction. Additionally, it will continue progressing with mid-to-long-term investment projects such as the Icheon Semiconductor Cluster and an advanced packaging facility in Indiana.

As a result, the investment scale for this year will be increased compared to the initial plan at the beginning of the year. The company explains that this increase is based on the growing customer demand trend, and the supply of HBM and general-purpose DRAM will gradually increase according to market needs. SK Hynix expects to ensure stable growth in the global semiconductor memory market while maintaining higher investment efficiency and financial stability.

Kim Yu-    hyun, CFO of SK Hynix, stated, "With our leading advantage in storage technologies suitable for AI, the company's performance is recovering comprehensively. In the future, we will provide the highest-performance products in a timely manner and continue to focus on profit-making operations to continuously improve the company's performance."