SK Hynix forecasts stronger demand for chips after Q1 profit jumps 66%

[SEOUL] SK Hynix, the world's No.2 memory chip maker, forecast an increase in chip demand for the rest of the year on Wednesday after posting a 66 per cent jump in first-quarter profit on continued stay-at-home demand for devices.

"The company expects customers' chip inventory to decrease quickly as current stronger-than-expected demand growth in the broader IT market continues," it said in a statement.

SK Hynix said supplies were expected to remain tight throughout the year for DRAM chips that are widely used in laptops and other computing devices. It also forecast a faster than expected increase in demand and prices for NAND memory chips that serve the data storage market.

The South Korean company, which counts Apple Inc among its customers, reported an operating profit of 1.3 trillion won (S$1.55 billion) in January-March, up from 800 billion won a year earlier.

That compares with a Refinitiv Smartestimate of a 1.4 trillion won profit, drawn from 20 analysts. The Smartestimate gives more weight to consistently accurate analysts.

First quarter revenue rose 18 per cent on-year to 8.5 trillion won.

Strong sales of smartphones and personal computers during the period drove demand for memory chips, supporting SK Hynix's strong earnings, analysts said.

Shipments of personal computers during the quarter jumped 55 per cent on-year, a sharp contrast from a decline in the PC market of about 2 per cent a year over the past decade, according to NH Investment & Securities.

REUTERS