DRAM chip manufacturer SK Hynix reports record profit

SK Hynix, the second largest manufacturer of memory chips for DRAM and fifth for NAND flash worldwide, has reported another record breaking quarter for both operating profit and net profit. The previous record quarter for the company was for the first three months of 2017, showing that SK Hynix has been able to capitalize on the increasing industry prices for their core products.

Comparing the first quarter and second quarter this year, sales of DRAM chips increased by 3%, while average selling price grew by 11%. NAND flash sales declined by 6%, but this was offset by the average sale price which increased by 8%. The combined performance of these products leads to an increase in operating profit of 24%, and net profit by 30% - again comparing the first and second quarters of this year.

SK Hynix is attributing the DRAM performance to growth in the server industry, and presumably the higher demand for large capacity RAM modules. The decrease in NAND flash sales is attributed to sluggish growth in the smartphone market.

There is potential for more record breaking quarters for the company, as they plan to enter full production of LPDDR4X and 72-layer 3D NAND in the last half of 2017.

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