Memory margins soar

SK hynix said on April 23 that its first-quarter operating margin reached 72%, a level that put the memory-chip maker above recent margins reported by TSMC and Nvidia. (news.skhynix.com) The South Korean company reported first-quarter revenue of 52.5763 trillion won and operating profit of 37.6103 trillion won, both quarterly records for the company. Revenue topped 50 trillion won for the first time, and net profit reached 40.3459 trillion won. (news.skhynix.com) TSMC reported a 58.1% operating margin for the January-to-March quarter, while Nvidia reported a 75.0% gross margin in the quarter ended January 25, 2026. The Korea Times said analysts focused on the comparison because SK hynix’s 72% figure is an operating margin, a stricter profitability measure than gross margin. (investor.tsmc.com, nvidianews.nvidia.com, koreatimes.co.kr) Memory chips store data, and high-bandwidth memory stacks several memory dies together and connects them with very wide pathways so artificial-intelligence processors can pull data faster. SK hynix has become a key supplier of that high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, used alongside AI accelerators. (news.skhynix.com) SK hynix said demand for AI memory lifted sales of its 12-layer HBM3E products and expanded shipments of high-capacity Double Data Rate 5 modules for servers. The company also said it began supplying 12-layer HBM4 samples to major customers ahead of volume demand expected in the second half of 2026. (news.skhynix.com) The result extends a sharp turnaround from the memory downturn of 2023, when chipmakers cut production after prices collapsed. SK hynix posted operating profit of 7.44 trillion won in the first quarter of 2025, far below the 37.61 trillion won it reported a year later. (news.skhynix.com, skhynix.com) The company said it will focus investment on products tied to AI demand while keeping a “profit-first” approach for other businesses. It also said server demand for conventional DRAM and enterprise solid-state drives is improving as customers build out AI systems and data centers. (news.skhynix.com) For now, the profit pool in AI hardware is not sitting only with the companies designing processors or fabricating logic chips. SK hynix’s quarter showed that the memory attached to those systems is taking an unusually large share too. (news.skhynix.com, koreatimes.co.kr)