SK Hynix to Amplify HBM Memory Production By More Than Two-fold
The South Korea-based company, SK Hynix, has declared a five-fold increase in the production volume of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) over the previous quarter. HBM is a type of memory widely used in AI computation accelerators. The company is planning to double the production volume yet again within this year.
The management of SK Hynix revealed this plan following the announcement of their Q4 results for the year, as stated by Business Korea. The firm is planning to more than double the production volume of HBM in comparison to last year. Analysts estimate that the current year will result in an operating profit surpassing $7.5 billion, mostly due to the high demand for computation accelerators utilizing HBM. In comparison to the total revenue of $24.5 billion from last year, an operation profit of over $7.5 billion would mark a commendable feat. For the first time in four quarters, SK Hynix ended with an operating profit last quarter, reaching a sum of $259 million.
The leadership at SK Hynix believes the surge in AI systems will help the memory market to grow more profoundly than in 2018. In the seniors’ opinion, the memory market will definitely flourish this year. SK Hynix noticed some clients amplifying their order volume the previous quarter, in anticipation of escalating memory prices. Remarkably, demand for memory has also begun to grow in the PC and smartphone segment. SK Hynix predicts that demand and supply in the DRAM market will achieve equilibrium in the first half of this year and in the NAND market during the second half.
SK Hynix saw a record-breaking operating profit over $15 billion in 2018. This year the operating profit is expected to reach $7.5 billion with an anticipated increase to $11.2 billion by next year. In anticipation of such growth, SK Hynix, along with its competitor Samsung Electronics, is aiming to more than double its HBM memory output this year.
