SK hynix achieved the highest annual revenue and operating profit in its history last year, driven by an explosive surge in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors. SK hynix announced in a disclosure on the 28th that its 2025 annual revenue came to KRW 97,146.7 billion and operating profit to KRW 47,206.3 billion. Compared with the previous year, revenue and operating profit increased by 46.8% and 101.2%, respectively. With the semiconductor “super cycle” (super boom) continuing and shortages in high bandwidth memory (HBM) and DRAM supply persisting, market observers expect SK hynix’s strong performance to continue for the time being.

● Quarterly operating profit nears KRW 20 trillion… highest results on record

Last year, SK hynix’s operating profit surpassed Samsung Electronics’ provisional annual operating profit for last year (KRW 43,530 billion) for the first time on an annual basis. SK hynix’s annual operating margin was 49%. The company stated, “This is the result of a strategic response that simultaneously secured profitability and growth by strengthening technological competitiveness and expanding the share of high value-added products in line with the demand structure being reorganized around AI.”

It also posted record-high results on a quarterly basis. In the fourth quarter of last year (October–December), SK hynix’s revenue and operating profit stood at KRW 32,826.7 billion and KRW 19,169.6 billion, respectively, up 66% and 137% year-on-year. SK hynix’s fourth-quarter 2025 operating profit ranked second in Korean corporate quarterly earnings, following Samsung Electronics’ 2025 fourth-quarter figure (KRW 20 trillion). In particular, its operating margin reached 58.4%, surpassing Taiwan’s TSMC (54.0%), which had maintained the highest operating margin in the global semiconductor industry, for the first time in seven years since the fourth quarter of 2018.

The results were underpinned by a sharp increase in semiconductor demand stemming from the spread of AI. As global big tech companies expanded investment in AI data centers, demand for HBM and high-capacity DRAM surged. SK hynix explained, “HBM revenue more than doubled from the previous year, contributing to the best management performance ever,” adding, “For general-purpose DRAM, we have begun full-scale mass production of the sixth-generation 10-nanometer-class (1c-nano) DDR5.” According to Bank of America, SK hynix’s share of the global HBM market last year was 61%, ranking first in the world for the third consecutive year following 2023 (54%) and 2024 (55%). SK hynix is also known to have secured more than two-thirds of the sixth-generation HBM4 volume supplied to its largest customer, NVIDIA.

Moreover, as the AI market evolves from a phase focused on training large-scale models to a “inference” phase in which users actually utilize AI services, usage of memory semiconductors is soaring. Han Dong-hee, an analyst at SK Securities, said, “All memory products, including HBM3E, HBM4, and commodity DRAM, are in short supply.” SK hynix stated on the day, “We will rapidly maximize the production capacity of the Cheongju M15X fab and proceed with the construction of the first fab in Yongin to expand our production base.”

● Forecasts: “Operating profit to exceed KRW 100 trillion this year”

Brokerages and the semiconductor industry project that SK hynix’s operating profit will reach around KRW 100 trillion this year. Following foreign brokerage Morgan Stanley, which forecasts KRW 148 trillion, domestic securities firms such as Korea Investment & Securities (KRW 128 trillion) and Hana Securities (KRW 112 trillion) also project SK hynix’s operating profit this year to exceed KRW 100 trillion. Noh Geun-chang, an analyst at Hyundai Motor Securities, said, “As the HBM market expands and DRAM prices continue to rise, solid performance is expected through next year.”

SK hynix also decided to implement an additional dividend of KRW 1 trillion, or KRW 1,500 per share. It will cancel 15.3 million treasury shares (a 2.1% stake) valued at KRW 12,200 billion based on the closing price on the 27th. On the 28th, SK hynix’s share price closed at KRW 841,000.

Meanwhile, SK hynix plans to pay an “excess profit distribution (PS)” next month on the 5th, funded by 10% of last year’s operating profit (about KRW 4,700 billion. Although the amount will vary depending on years of service and performance, a simple calculation by headcount suggests a per-capita payout of around KRW 140 million.

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