SK Hynix CEO expects AI memory boom to double company’s value

Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox

The South Korean memory maker benefited from the surge in demand for AI gear.

The South Korean memory maker benefited from the surge in demand for AI gear.

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

Follow topic:

SK Hynix’s market value is likely to double over the next three years as the company evolves and improves its technology, according to chief executive Kwak Noh-jung.

The memory maker became South Korea’s second-most valuable company in December, behind only arch-rival Samsung Electronics, as it benefited from the surge in demand for artificial intelligence gear.

Nvidia’s gold-standard AI accelerators use SK Hynix’s high bandwidth memory (HBM) extensively, giving it an edge on Samsung and American competitor Micron Technology.

“There are only three HBM providers in the market. What I can say for sure is that SK Hynix is a clear leader in the HBM space,” Mr Kwak said at the CES tech conference in Las Vegas.

Asked if the company will consider relaxing production cuts it implemented to counter a downturn in memory demand, Mr Kwak said SK Hynix will be flexible, with different strategies for each product.

“For Dram, we may bring a change to the production-cut policy in the first quarter, while the same would apply to Nand past the first half,” he said.

SK Hynix is expected to report holiday-quarter earnings later in January. Samsung on Jan 9 reported its

sixth straight quarter of declining operating profit

, suggesting that a widely anticipated rebound in demand is yet to fully materialise. BLOOMBERG

See more on