South Korea’s SK Hynix Going All-in on AI Memory

In January 2024, SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker, announced that it will become a total AI memory provider by 2024. The company will also build high-end memory capacity to meet the demand for AI.

Hynix is partnering with TSMC for new HBM4 memory in 2026 that will stack on top of GPU AI chips.

In Q4, 2023:

Hynix expanded sales of AI memory products significantly, leveraging tech/product competitiveness

They did a lot of cost cutting. (i.e. Capex down by more than 50% YoY & minimizing Opex)

Consolidated Revenue decreased by KRW 11.9T YoY and recorded Operating loss due to severe memory price drop

Proactively responded to the surging AI demand, rapidly expanding sales of premium products i.e. DDR5 HDM & HBM3 Sales of DDR5 & HBM3 grew more than 4x and 5x YoY, respectively

Maintained conservative production stance and focused on investment/cost efficiency, under relatively challenging demand environment.