[News Today] SK HYNIX SEEN TO OUTPACE SAMSUNG

[LEAD]
Yesterday, SK hynix reported record third-quarter earnings. The company's success stems from its 'overwhelming technological advantage' in the HBM market, which is key in the AI era. Continuing this trend, SK hynix is poised to surpass Samsung Electronics in annual semiconductor earnings.

[REPORT]
SK hynix has ushered in an era of quarterly operating profits of 7 trillion won or over 5 billion US dollars.

Tentative third quarter results released Thursday amounts to 7.03 trillion won, an all time high.

Though the figures are tentative, it's believed the company has surpassed rival Samsung Electronics, the steadfast market leader, in terms of chip sector earnings.

At this pace, SK hynix is set to overtake Samsung in the full results for semiconductors for the first time ever this year.

The latest results were led by High Bandwidth Memory or HBM, chips designed to process more data at a faster speed by stacking up several layers. Being a key technology in the AI era, the layering is critical to speedy processing of mass data.

SK is set to mass produce fifth generation 12-layer HBMs after manufacturing 8-layer products.

Kim Woo-hyun / SK Hynix (Oct. 24)
HBM sales grew more than 330% on-year to lead overall growth. Its percentage in sales is expected to reach 40% in Q4.

There are some concerns that production is too focused on HBMs. But the company assures there's no problem as the market is growing at a faster rate than production.

Kwak Noh-jung / SK hynix CEO (May)
Our HBM products are already sold out for this year, and mostly sold out for next year as well.

The traditional memory market is facing stiff competition from China.

Park Yoo-ak / Kiwoom Securities
Chipmakers are likely to take the strategy of reducing DDR4 production, shifting supply to DDR5 and HBM in a bid to avoid competition with Chinese firms.

The AI market is expected to continue its rapid growth.

By hinting at the development of a new HBM technology, SK hynix squarely plans to cement its market status.