SEOUL, July 23 — The world's second-largest memory chip maker, South Korea's SK Hynix, today posted a big jump in quarterly profit thanks to higher chip prices but warned of uncertainty for the rest of 2020.
Korean chipmakers — led by behemoth Samsung Electronics — have enjoyed record profits in recent years as prices for their products soared.
SK Hynix supplies chips to companies from US giant Apple to China's Huawei but demand began to decline as global market supply increased after manufacturers invested billions in new factories.
Nevertheless, the company's operating profit in the April to June period jumped 205 per cent to 1.9 trillion won (RM6.76 billion) from 638 billion won a year earlier, beating analysts' forecasts.
“Surging demand for server memory maintained favourable memory price,” the firm said in a statement.
Its revenue also rose 33 per cent to 8.6 trillion won during the same period.
SK Hynix said it expects uncertainty to continue in the second half of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic and global trade disputes but forecast improving demand as major markets slowly resume activity.
“5G smartphones and next-generation gaming consoles which are scheduled for launching will stimulate component demand growth, as the economic activities of major countries partially reopen,” the firm said.
Shares of SK Hynix edged up 0.24 per cent to 83,400 in early morning trade in Seoul. — Reuters
