AI boom: South Korea's chipmaker SK Hynix posts record profit again
The ongoing AI boom continues to drive SK Hynix's earnings. The semiconductor industry is now responsible for around half of South Korea's growth.
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix reported a record-breaking profit in the third quarter of its fiscal year, with earnings more than seven times higher compared to the same period last year. The tech company generated around €56 billion in profit, surpassing market expectations and outperforming its primary competitor, Samsung Electronics.
SK Hynix's stock price saw a 2.7% increase during early trading before dipping slightly afterwards. Since the end of 2025, the company's stock price has more than doubled, although euphoria has significantly cooled since mid-year.
With a market capitalization of roughly €660 billion, SK Hynix now ranks among the world's most valuable companies. The semiconductor industry accounts for roughly half of South Korea's GDP growth. At the heart of this rapid expansion is the soaring demand for high-bandwidth memory chips ("High Bandwidth Memory," or HBM), which are essential for AI applications and infrastructure.
SK Hynix is a leading player in this market, with Nvidia, the US tech giant, among its key customers. The company anticipates that the demand for memory chips will exceed supply until at least 2030.
South Korea's economy is clearly benefiting from the chip boom, as evidenced by the latest economic data released on Tuesday. In the third quarter, the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 1% compared to the previous quarter, with the semiconductor industry contributing roughly half of the economic growth, according to estimates from the central bank.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
