It is known that this will be the first time SK Hynix has achieved a record profit if the company surpasses the operating profit of 10 trillion won in this quarter. Expectations for a prolonged "semiconductor super cycle" are becoming increasingly clear.
Financial information company - Fn Guide said that domestic securities companies in Korea calculated SK Hynix's operating profit in the third quarter of 2025 at 11.34 trillion won, up 61.4% over the same period in 2024, while Samsung Electronics' operating profit in the third quarter was 12.1 trillion won. Compared to three months ago, SK Hynix's estimated operating profit has increased by about 1.2 trillion won.
A industry expert said that the better performance than expected of Korea's leading semiconductor companies is achieved thanks to the resilience not only in the emerging high-end memory (HBM) field, but also in existing core products such as DRAM and NAND.
As the artificial intelligence (AI) market expands, demand for memory semiconductors is increasing not only in large technology companies but also in synthesis companies looking for related infrastructure investments. Thanks to the increasing demand for multi-functional products as companies replace or upgrade servers to enhance their IT competitiveness.
On the other hand, the demand for PC memory is outpacing supply due to the growing application of AI PCs and the emergence of a computer replacement cycle within 4-5 years of use.
In terms of supply, memory manufacturers have largely shifted their production lines to HBM, leading to a decrease in multi-purpose memory output. This positive factor has contributed to Samsung Electronics' Q3 operating profit increasing by 31.8% over the same period in 2024.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are also benefiting from growing partnerships with major US technology companies. A typical example is the partnership that the two companies recently established with OpenAI - the developer of ChatGPT - to invest in large-scale AI infrastructure.
On October 17, NVIDIA also announced that it had produced the first Blackwell at TSMC's factory in Arizona. Blackwell is NVIDIA's latest mass-produced AI semiconductor, equipped with HBM3E chips provided by Korean companies. With the production of Blackwell, the US production system will officially come into operation, and the AI semiconductor market is expected to become even more vibrant.
Meanwhile, Micron - one of the world's three leading DRAM manufacturers along with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, is said to be planning to withdraw from the server business in China. Micron's decision comes amid growing difficulties following China's technology export ban.
This decision has benefited the operations of rivals Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in China. Statistics show that investment in data centers in China has increased 9 times in 2024 compared to the time 1 year before.
