[Anchor]
Driven by soaring demand for AI semiconductors, SK Hynix has once again posted a record-breaking quarterly performance. However, because its operating profit fell short of market expectations, its shares are experiencing a sharp decline.
Reporter Choi Seung-hun has the story.
[Reporter]
SK Hynix announced in a regulatory filing today (the 29th) that it recorded consolidated revenue of 79.3187 trillion won and an operating profit of 60.5426 trillion won for the second quarter of this year.
Compared to the same period last year, revenue surged by 257% and operating profit skyrocketed by 557%, both marking all-time highs on a quarterly basis.
Cumulative revenue for the first half of the year also surpassed 100 trillion won for the first time.
However, the second-quarter operating profit fell 4.7% short of market projections.
SK Hynix explained that shipments of certain high-value-added products were delayed to the second half of the year, and the product mix affected average selling prices.
Despite missing market expectations, the company achieved record performance as expanding AI infrastructure investments boosted sales of high-value-added products such as HBM, enterprise SSDs, and DRAM for AI servers, alongside sharp increases in DRAM and NAND prices.
SK Hynix projected that AI investments by major big tech companies will remain robust beyond next year, and announced that it has concluded long-term supply contract negotiations with about 10 companies, including key major clients.
Yet, despite the record-breaking performance, the market's response was cold.
SK Hynix shares plummeted over 8% during intraday trading, dropping into the 1.4 million won range.
This is interpreted as the result of the conference call failing to present the additional shareholder return measures anticipated by the market, compounded by profit-taking sell-offs following recent sharp rallies.
The domestic stock market was also heavily shaken.
The KOSPI expanded its decline to the 5% range, slipping below the 5,700 mark during intraday trading, which triggered a sell sidecar—a temporary suspension of program sell orders—for the second consecutive day.
(Video Editing: Choi Jin-hwa)
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