SK Hynix Kwak No-jeong "AI Demand Growth is Strong... Maintaining No.1 Competitiveness in HBM"

SK Hynix 76th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders
Positive Outlook for Memory Market Recovery This Year
Strengthening High-Value Businesses like HBM and DDR5
NAND Business Direction Improved with Focus on Profitability

"As global artificial intelligence (AI) competition intensifies, demand for AI memory is expected to grow significantly, and with the emergence of on-device AI in PC and mobile sectors, demand for next-generation device replacement is anticipated to expand."

On the 27th, Kwak No-jeong, President of SK Hynix, made these remarks regarding the memory semiconductor market outlook for this year at the 76th regular shareholders' meeting held at the Supex Hall at the company's headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. He stated, "The market is recovering from a deep recession this year through demand improvement and supply stabilization," and added, "The U.S. base interest rate is expected to decline within the year, and ICT demand will normalize with the recovery of consumer sentiment."

Gwak Nojeong, President of SK Hynix, speaking at the 76th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held on the 27th at the headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province / Photo by SK Hynix

President Kwak said that despite difficult market conditions last year, SK Hynix improved its performance focusing on high value-added DRAM products such as HBM and Double Data Rate (DDR)5. He explained, "Last year, HBM3 sales grew more than fivefold compared to the previous year, achieving an overwhelming market share," and "DDR5 sales increased more than fourfold year-on-year, securing the number one market share."

This year, HBM performance is also expected to increase. President Kwak said, "As AI services evolve into multimodal forms, the memory capacity required to implement them will expand significantly." He added, "Computing demands continue to rise amid rapid technological advancements, and customer needs for high-performance memory like HBM are increasing."

SK Hynix began supplying 5th generation (HBM3E) products this month to NVIDIA, a U.S. graphics processing unit (GPU) company, following the 4th generation (HBM3) of HBM. The next-generation 6th generation (HBM4) products are also in full-scale development.

President Kwak introduced, "It took more than 10 years of effort to achieve the current success in the HBM business," and predicted, "We will continue to maintain our number one competitiveness in HBM based on close partnerships with leading AI companies."

President Kwak also detailed plans to expand DDR5 sales from the mobile sector to the automotive market as the full-scale generation shift to DDR5 takes place this year. In the graphics DRAM market, they plan to supply GDDR7 products in a timely manner based on customer collaboration.

To meet the memory innovation required in the AI era, SK Hynix plans to introduce various DRAM products responding to customer demands. President Kwak explained that upcoming products include "next-generation HBM4, Compute Express Link (CXL) DRAM suitable for high capacity, and Process-In-Memory (PIM) specialized for AI inference."

Regarding the NAND business, the company will shift its business direction from focusing on market share to profitability. President Kwak said, "We will continue investing to strengthen technological competitiveness, but the overall NAND investment process will be operated with a focus on profitability." He added plans to "advance a diverse high-profit product portfolio including automotive, gaming, and solid-state drives (SSD)."

SK Hynix Icheon Campus M16 / Photo by SK Hynix

Subsidiary Solidigm is expected to improve its performance this year. President Kwak said, "Solidigm experienced poor performance due to market deterioration and declining demand in the enterprise market since its launch, but recently, purchases of Solidigm eSSD (enterprise SSD) by big tech companies have increased significantly, so performance improvement is expected this year." He also added, "We will create synergy by combining Solidigm's competitiveness with SK Hynix's technological capabilities."

Efforts will also be made to resolve external uncertainties arising from rapidly changing global environments, such as the upcoming U.S. presidential election this year. President Kwak said, "Geopolitical environments surrounding semiconductors may change depending on election results in various countries," and "We will closely monitor external environmental changes and respond proactively." Regarding the China factory, he explained, "In October last year, we obtained a kind of license called VEU (Verified End User)," and "We are capable of producing down to 1a nanometer, enabling normal production activities."

Last year, SK Hynix's sales volume of DRAM and NAND flash both increased compared to the previous year, but due to sluggish market conditions causing a sharp decline in product prices, the company recorded consolidated annual sales of 32.8 trillion KRW and an operating loss of 770 billion KRW. However, by responding to AI memory demand and cost reduction efforts, the company reduced losses and succeeded in turning a profit in the fourth quarter of last year.

Meanwhile, at this shareholders' meeting, all eight agenda items, including approval of financial statements, appointment of directors, and amendments to the articles of incorporation, were passed. The director appointment agenda included the appointment of Son Hyun-cheol, a professor at Yonsei University, and Yang Dong-hoon, a professor at Dongguk University, as new outside directors. It also included the appointment of Ahn Hyun, Vice President in charge of solution development at SK Hynix, as an inside director.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.