SK Hynix Posts Strong First Quarter Earnings on AI Chip Demand

By Kwanwoo Jun

SK Hynix posted stronger-than-expected earnings for the first quarter on brisk demand for artificial-intelligence chips amid uncertainty about sweeping U.S. tariffs.

As the main supplier of high-bandwidth-memory products for Nvidia's most advanced graphics-processing units, South Korea's SK Hynix has been benefiting from robust HBM shipments on demand for high-performance computing chips for data servers and AI applications.

First-quarter net profit was 8.108 trillion won, equivalent to $5.68 billion, the memory-chip maker said Thursday. That beat the previous quarter's record 8.006 trillion won and more than quadrupled the 1.917 trillion won reported a year ago.

The print beat market expectations. Analysts had expected net profit of 5.074 trillion won, according to a consensus estimate from FactSet.

Revenue rose 42% from a year earlier to 17.639 trillion won, while operating profit gained to come in at 7.441 trillion won, beating the company's bigger rival Samsung Electronics' estimated 6.600 trillion won.

The stronger-than-expected quarterly results come as President Trump's trade war, marked by sweeping new tariffs on U.S. trading partners, is clouding the outlook for the global chip industry.

SK Hynix's shares have reflected that uncertainty, with the stock now up about 4% in 2025, compared with a nearly 10% gain in the first three months of this year.

Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com