On April 24, SK hynix announced that it recorded sales of 17.6391 trillion won, an operating profit of 7.4405 trillion won (with an operating margin of 42%), and a net profit of 8.1082 trillion won (with a net profit margin of 46%) for the first quarter of 2025 on a consolidated basis (K-IFRS). This performance marks the second-highest quarterly result in the company's history.
The operating profit margin increased by 1 percentage point compared to the previous quarter, marking eight consecutive quarters of improvement. SK hynix attributed this performance to the combined impact of competitive AI technology advancements and the demand for inventory accumulation by customers, which accelerated the recovery of the memory market faster than initially expected.
The company responded to the increasing demand for high-performance memory by boosting sales of high-value-added products such as HBM3E 12-layer and DDR5, demonstrating solid competitiveness even during a seasonally low-demand period.
As of the end of the first quarter, cash assets increased by 0.2 trillion won from the previous quarter to 14.3 trillion won. The debt ratio and net debt ratio improved to 29% and 11%, respectively, indicating enhanced financial soundness.
SK hynix plans to flexibly respond to customer demands by strengthening cooperation within the supply chain amid growing global economic uncertainty.
Particularly for HBM products, which involve pre-negotiations of annual supply volumes with customers, SK hynix anticipates more than doubling growth compared to last year. They expect HBM3E 12-layer to account for over half of the total HBM3E sales in the second quarter.
To address the AI PC market, SK hynix began supplying LPCAMM2 (LPDDR5X-based low-power high-performance modules) to some customers in the first quarter and plans to launch SOCAMM memory for AI servers (based on low-power DRAM) to coincide with the expected increase in customer demand.
In the NAND sector, while focusing on the growing demand for high-capacity eSSDs, SK hynix intends to maintain an investment strategy focused on profitability.
"We will focus on high-revenue products with predictable demand to maximize investment efficiency, break through technological limits as the leader in AI memory, and build a sustainable profit structure through collaboration with customers," said Woohyun Kim, CFO of SK hynix.
