SK hynix Inc.

Company Overview

SK Hynix Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Icheon, South Korea. The company designs, develops and markets semiconductor products. Its product portfolio includes DRAM memory for desktops, servers and laptops, mobile DRAMs and graphic DRAMs, among other products. The company was previously known as Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and changed its name to SK Hynix Inc. in March 2012.

SK Hynix launched the world’s first DDR5 DRAM in 2018, a high-speed and high-capacity product optimized for big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. It has four R&D subsidiaries in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the U.S.

SK Hynix is the second-largest memory chipmaker in the world (after Samsung Electronics). DVD players, cellular phones, set-top boxes, personal digital assistants, networking equipment and hard disk drives all employ Hynix memory products. Apple, Asus, Dell, HP Inc., and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (formerly Hewlett-Packard) are among the company’s key customers. SK Hynix manufacturing facilities are located in Korea, the U.S., China, and Taiwan.

SK Hynix forecast high demand for memory chips over the next few years, driven mostly by data center expansion and the increased use of advanced chips in smartphones. The company anticipated rapid growth in the second half of the year 2021 for NAND Flash products, due to growing demand for data storage in mobile devices. To meet this increased demand for memory chips, SK Hynix announced, in early 2021, that it was planning to invest $106 billion in four new semiconductor foundries, and also invest an extra $97 billion in modernizing its existing manufacturing facilities. According to news reports from several South Korean news agencies, the company was planning to complete a long-term deal with German car supplier Robert Bosch GmbH to supply automotive memory. SK Hynix has formed an agreement with auto manufacturers Continental and Hyundai Mobis to sell memory chips.

The company’s investment plans were altered, however, by deterioration in demand in 2021 and 2022, along with effects on profits from inflation. The company said it plans to reduce its investment next year by more than 50% on-year. The company said that prices of DRAM and NAND Flash chips fell by about 20%. SK Hynix said its 2022 investment is expected to be in the “upper range” of $7 to $14 billion (KRW 10-20 trillion). SK Hynix forecasts supply chain issues will gradually improve beginning in the second half of 2022, and market demand for memory products will increase.

SK Hynix said it is planning to approximately double shipments of NAND flash memory chips in 2022, a move that would vault it to second position in the sector globally after it completed the first stage of acquiring U.S. company Intel’s NAND business. The company expects the $9 billion deal will help it absorb Intel’s computing architecture skills in solid state drive, or SSD, a key part in the NAND business SK Hynix completed its purchase of Intel’s SSD division and its fabrication facility in Dalian, China in December, renaming it Solidigm.

Financial Highlights (FY 2023)

Company's Business Segments

• Sale of goods : This segment includes sale of goods like DRAM, CMM, SSD, NAND Storage, MCP.
• Providing services : This segment includes providing services to customers time to time on products sold.