SK Hynix is setting a new record thanks to the AI memory boom, achieving its highest sales ever and proving its position in the HBM and eSSD markets.

SK Hynix announced its annual and fourth quarter performance for 2024 through a conference call on the 23rd, stating that it recorded its best performance ever.

In its 2024 performance, SK Hynix announced that it recorded sales of KRW 66.193 trillion, operating profit of KRW 23.4673 trillion, and net profit of KRW 19.7969 trillion, renewing its best performance since its founding. The operating profit margin was 35% and the net profit margin was 30%, showing a high profit margin due to the focus on sales of premium AI memory such as HBM.

SK Hynix achieved a new sales record, KRW 21 trillion higher than its previous record of KRW 44.6216 trillion in 2022, and its operating profit also surpassed its previous record of KRW 20.8437 trillion in 2018 by about KRW 3 trillion.

Sales for the fourth quarter were KRW 19.767 trillion, up 12% from the previous quarter, with operating profit of KRW 8.828 trillion and net profit of KRW 8.065 trillion.
SK Hynix forecasted that demand for HBM and high-capacity server DRAM, which are essential for high-performance computing, will continue to increase as big tech companies expand their investment in AI servers and the importance of AI inference technology grows. In the consumer product market, where some inventory adjustments are expected, sales of PCs and smartphones equipped with AI functions are expected to increase, and the market situation is expected to improve as we move into the second half of the year.

It is reported that this year, HBM3E shipments will increase by nearly 50% from the first half of the year, and the company plans to ramp up HBM4 12-layer products based on 1b nanometer technology, which has proven technological stability and mass production, from the second half of the year. The company said that HBM4 16-layer products will be supplied from the second half of 2026 according to demand through consultation with customers.

SK Hynix is expected to continue its HBM-related investments this year to supply contracted volumes, and it expects that investment will increase somewhat this year due to the Cheongju M15X and Yongin fab, which are necessary for securing future infrastructure.

Accordingly, a dividend policy to strengthen financial soundness was announced. While the annual fixed dividend was increased by 25% from the existing 1,200 won to 1,500 won, and the total cash dividend was expanded to 1 trillion won per year, only fixed dividends will be paid in future dividends, and 5% of the annual free cash flow (FCF) included in the existing dividend policy will be used to strengthen financial soundness.

SK Hynix expected increased demand for consumer products such as smartphones and tablets as they were included in the list of subsidies for promoting domestic demand in China, according to the economic outlook and market conditions. It also forecasted improved supply and demand in the second half of the year due to inventory adjustments and improved demand.

This year, AI PC shipments are expected to account for 30-40% of all PCs, and accordingly, in addition to the minimum capacity of 16GB, 24-32GB can be expected to be adopted for memory capacity to support AI performance. In addition, demand is expected to increase from general DRAM to AI-oriented memory due to replacement demand following the end of Windows 10 service and increased need for inference computing due to the expansion of AI services and agents.

SK Hynix CFO Woo-Hyun Kim said, “By significantly increasing the sales proportion of high value-added products, we have established a business structure that can achieve stable sales and profits compared to the past even during market adjustments,” adding, “We will continue to maintain the principle of investing primarily in products with secured profitability, while making flexible investment decisions in response to changing market conditions.”