SK Hynix posted annual operating profit of 47.2 trillion won, up 101 percent from a year earlier. HBM revenue more than doubled and it set new quarterly records. DRAM prices jumped by the mid-20 percent range from the previous quarter and NAND rose by the low-30 percent range as AI memory demand surged.

SK Hynix said on a conference call on Jan. 29 that it posted fourth-quarter operating profit of 19.2 trillion won, a record high on a quarterly basis. Revenue came to 32.8 trillion won, up 34 percent from the previous quarter and 66 percent from a year earlier. Operating profit rose 68 percent from the previous quarter and 137 percent from a year earlier. Its operating margin was 58 percent. For the year, it posted revenue of 97.1 trillion won and operating profit of 47.2 trillion won. Revenue rose 47 percent from a year earlier and operating profit increased 101 percent.

The company said the results were the outcome of a strategic response that strengthened technological competitiveness and increased the share of high value-added products to secure profitability and growth at the same time, in line with a demand structure being reshaped around AI. It said 2025 once again proved it has technology competitiveness at the world’s top level.

◆HBM revenue doubles... strengthens leadership in the AI memory market

The key driver was HBM and rising demand for general-purpose memory for servers. In DRAM, HBM revenue grew more than twofold from a year earlier. Sales of 12-high HBM3E rose sharply, driving record annual DRAM revenue and operating profit.

Fourth-quarter DRAM shipments grew by the low single-digit range as sales of 12-high HBM3E and DDR5 for servers increased. In particular, shipments of high-capacity DDR5 modules rose by around 50 percent from the previous quarter, leading demand growth centered on AI and HPC. Average selling prices rose by the mid-20 percent range from the previous quarter as general-purpose DRAM prices climbed.

Song Hyun-jong (송현종), president of SK Hynix’s corporate center, stressed that the company is the only one in the industry that can supply HBM3E and HBM4 simultaneously and stably. He said it secured customer trust by having technological leadership as well as verified quality and mass production capabilities.

HBM4 has been in mass production for volumes requested by customers since building a mass production system in September last year. The company said it achieved a major technological result in that HBM4 implemented performance demanded by customers based on the 1b-nanometer process used in existing products. It said it plans to secure yields at the level of the 12-high HBM3E product by using its proprietary packaging technology, Advanced MR-MUF.

In general-purpose DRAM, it also entered full-scale mass production of 1c-nanometer DDR5, which it said has top-level performance and cost competitiveness. It said it took market leadership in server modules as well by developing a 256GB DDR5 RDIMM, the industry’s largest capacity, based on 1d-nanometer 32Gb.

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

In particular, fourth-quarter NAND shipments rose by about 10 percent, exceeding guidance, due to rising demand for mobile and enterprise SSDs. ASP rose by the low-30 percent range from the previous quarter as the price increase widened.

Song Chang-seok (송창석), head of NAND marketing, said a shift in which AI uses data more precisely and quickly is structurally driving a surge in demand for high-performance, high-capacity enterprise SSDs. He said SSDs are changing into devices that play a core role in the computing pipeline in a GPU-centered server structure.

The company said it will maximize product competitiveness through a shift to 321-layer products, while responding to storage demand for AI data centers by using Solidaim’s QLC enterprise SSDs. It said it plans to preempt the ultra-high-capacity storage market, driven by expanding AI processing, by developing a next-generation 245TB product.

◆Financial soundness improves sharply... shift to net cash

Its financial structure improved significantly on the back of record results. As of end-2025, cash and cash equivalents were 34.9 trillion won, up 20.8 trillion won from end-2024. Borrowings were 22.2 trillion won, down 400.0 billion won from end-2024.

Its borrowing ratio fell sharply to 18 percent from a year earlier, shifting to net cash. Kim Woo-hyun (김우현), head of the finance division, said the goal of financial soundness is to continuously hold an appropriate level of cash that allows it to operate the business stably even when the industry cycle changes and to execute capex needed to maintain competitiveness.

The company assessed that the AI market is rapidly shifting this year from a learning-centered stage to an inference-centered stage. Song said computing workloads are moving from a structure concentrated in high-performance servers to distributed architecture. He said securing efficiency across systems, including data movement and storage, is key, and the role of memory is becoming more important than ever.

It expects overall memory demand, including high-performance memory such as HBM as well as server DRAM and NAND, to keep expanding. The company said it expects set growth in the server market in the high-teens percent this year, helped by expanding demand for AI inference.

The company said short-term shipment adjustments are expected for PCs and mobile devices due to rising component costs and weakening consumer sentiment. It projected that while memory demand is rising explosively, overall capacity constraints across the supply industry will keep this year’s demand growth to above 20 percent for DRAM and the high-teens percent for NAND.

It plans to push ahead with capacity expansion in line with market conditions. It plans to maximize production capacity early at Cheongju M15X and to expand mid- to long-term production foundations steadily through construction of the first fab in Yongin.

It also plans to prepare 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. This year, it will maximize M15X capacity early and accelerate a shift to leading-edge processes, including 1c-nanometer DRAM and 321-layer NAND.

Kim said capex in 2026 is expected to rise significantly from last year due to expanded production capacity and infrastructure. He said it will continue to comply with capex discipline that comprehensively assesses demand visibility and investment efficiency. The company plans to maintain a capex ratio in the mid-30 percent range of revenue.

Song said it will generate sustainable performance growth based on differentiated technological competitiveness, while maintaining an optimal balance among future investment, financial stability and shareholder returns. He said it will strengthen its role as a core infrastructure partner in the AI era that implements customers’ AI performance demands, beyond being a simple product supplier.