SK hynix said on Jan. 28 it posted fourth-quarter 2025 revenue of 32.8267 trillion won and operating profit of 19.1696 trillion won. Revenue rose 34 percent from the previous quarter and operating profit increased 68 percent. Operating margin reached 58 percent.

The fourth-quarter performance stemmed from rising demand for HBM and server-bound general memory. The company said it achieved a record quarterly result by responding aggressively in both areas.

SK hynix said, "It is the result of a strategic response that secured profitability and growth at the same time by strengthening technological competitiveness and increasing the proportion of high value-added products in line with a demand structure being reshaped around AI," and added, "2025 was a year that once again proved world-class technological competitiveness."

Full-year results were tallied at revenue of 97.1467 trillion won, operating profit of 47.2063 trillion won and net profit of 42.9479 trillion won. Operating margin was 49 percent and net margin was 44 percent.

Compared with the previous year, the scale of growth was clear. Revenue rose by more than 30 trillion won from 66.1930 trillion won in 2024, and operating profit increased to about double from 23.4673 trillion won. Both annual and quarterly results were all-time highs.

In DRAM, HBM revenue grew more than twofold from a year earlier. General DRAM entered full-scale mass production of 10-nanometer-class sixth-generation DDR5, and the company also produced results in server modules by developing a 256GB DDR5 RDIMM based on 10-nanometer-class fifth-generation 32Gb.

In NAND, it completed development of a 321-layer QLC product despite weak demand in the first half. It responded in the second half to demand centered on enterprise SSDs and posted record annual revenue.

HBM growth accelerates as SK hynix posts 47 trillion won in annual operating profit

SK hynix assessed that the AI market is shifting from training to inference. It said the role of memory will become more important as demand for distributed architectures expands. It also forecast that overall memory demand, including not only HBM but also server DRAM and NAND, will continue to rise.

SK hynix said HBM4, for which it established a mass production system in September last year, is currently being produced in quantities requested by customers. It emphasized that it is the only company in the industry that can stably supply both HBM3E and HBM4 at the same time. It plans to supply optimal products in custom HBM, a next-generation competitive market, by strengthening cooperation systems with customers and partners.

It also plans to accelerate a shift to 1c nanometer in general DRAM and expand its AI memory product portfolio such as SOCAMM2 and GDDR7. In NAND, it will maximize product competitiveness through a transition to 321 layers, while responding to AI data center storage demand by using Solidigm's QLC enterprise SSDs.

It will also step up capacity expansion. It plans to quickly maximize production at Cheongju M15X and stably expand its medium- to long-term production base through construction of the first Yongin fab. It also plans to proceed smoothly with preparations for Cheongju P&T7 and an advanced packaging plant in Indiana in the United States to build global integrated manufacturing capabilities spanning front-end and back-end processes.

The company also announced its largest-ever shareholder return policy. With an additional dividend of 1,500 won per share, the year-end dividend will be paid at 1,875 won per share. Total dividends for fiscal 2025 will be 3,000 won per share, returning a total of 2.1 trillion won to shareholders. It will cancel all 15.3 million treasury shares it holds, equivalent to a 2.1 percent stake. That is worth about 12.2 trillion won based on the closing price on Jan. 27. It expressed its intention to raise value per share and enhance shareholder value.

Song Hyun-jong (송현종), president of SK hynix's Corporate Center, said, "Based on differentiated technological competitiveness, we will create sustainable performance growth while maintaining an optimal balance among future investment, financial stability and shareholder returns," and added, "We will strengthen our role as a core infrastructure partner in the AI era that realizes customers' AI performance requirements, going beyond being a simple product supplier."