Stefan Mileschin

Thanks for the memory

Chipmaker SK Hynix said global demand for cloud computing should underpin DRAM chip sales for the rest of the year, as it posted record second quarter profits on Thursday despite worries over the weak flash memory market.

The world’s No. 2 memory chipmaker said American and Chinese internet data center providers would drive DRAM revenue in the months ahead, supporting earnings amid a broader slowdown in the chip industry following two years of strong profit growth.

“DRAM supply in the second half will not be enough to ease the supply shortage”, Myoung Young Lee, SK Hynix’s executive vice president, told an earnings conference call.

“Despite suppliers’ continued attempts to increase wafer capacity, production is not increasing fast enough due to growing complexity in tech migration.”

SK Hynix said operating profit for April-June grew 83 percent to 5.6 trillion won ($5 billion) from 3.1 trillion won a year earlier. That compared with a 5.4 trillion won Thomson Reuters StarMine SmartEstimate from a survey of 21 analysts.

Revenue rose 55 percent from a year earlier to a record 10.4 trillion won, the company said.

The DRAM business contributed 80 percent of the company’s sales during the quarter, while NAND accounted for 18 percent.

SK Hynix shares rose 2.4 percent on the result, after sliding more than seven percent since Monday on analyst forecasts of a slowdown in DRAM sector performance.

https://fudzilla.com/news/memory-and...s-cloudy-boost