SK hynix Inc. saw its US revenue more than double in 2024, accounting for nearly half of its total annual sales, fueled by strong demand for its cutting-edge high bandwidth memory chips.
In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker reported that SK hynix America generated sales of 33.19 trillion won ($22.7 billion) in 2024, marking a 2.6-fold increase from the previous year. These sales accounted for about half of SK hynix’s total annual revenue of 66.19 trillion won. The company’s US headquarters in Silicon Valley also posted a net profit of 104.9 billion won.
The company attributed the surge in sales to rising demand for HBM, enterprise SSDs and DDR5 products, driven by the growth of AI applications and AI data centers.
Sales of HBM chips were particularly significant, contributing 40% of SK hynix’s revenue in the October-December period of 2024. The company announced that its HBM chips have already sold out for this year and it expects annual sales to more than double in 2025 compared to 2024.
“We expect HBM sales to grow more than 100% year-on-year in 2025, based on strong market demand. Our client base will further expand this year, as we are seeing a meaningful increase in the number of customers for our ASIC-based chips,” SK hynix said during an earnings call last month.
ASIC or application-specific integrated circuit chips refer to customizable semiconductors, which for SK hynix will likely include next-generation HBM4 products.
The company plans to begin shipping its latest 16-layer HBM3E chips in the first half of 2025 and start mass production of sixth-generation HBM4 chips in the latter half of the year.
With its strong presence in the HBM market, SK hynix increased its share in the global DRAM market to 36.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024, narrowing the gap with market leader Samsung Electronics, which held a 39.3 percent share.
SK hynix’s US subsidiary is expected to further expand its sales and marketing efforts in the critical US market, serving as a key link between the Korean chipmaker and major tech giants during the validation and mass production process.
In January 2025, SK hynix appointed Vice President Ryu Sung-soo — a memory chip specialist — as the CEO of SK hynix America. Ryu had been leading global sales and marketing for the HBM business since 2019.
"Ryu has played a pivotal role in advancing memory and semiconductor solutions, driving groundbreaking innovations in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) technology and DRAM product planning," SK hynix America said in a LinkedIn post announcing his appointment.
herim@heraldcorp.com
