SK Hynix's Q2 operating profit soars 557% to a record high, but high proportion of HBM leads to results below expectations, stock price under pressure

(1) Driven by the increased investment in AI data centers by tech giants and the resulting surge in demand for advanced storage chips, SK Hynix's operating profit for the second quarter soared by 557% to 60.5 trillion KRW (approximately $41.62 billion), setting a new historical record. In the same period last year, it was 9.2 trillion KRW. However, this figure fell short of market expectations, which were 64 trillion KRW, and revenue of 79 trillion KRW also missed the forecasted 84 trillion KRW.(2) The main reason for the performance falling short of expectations is that SK Hynix has a high proportion of high-end storage chips (HBM), which led the company to not fully benefit from the strong price increase cycle of conventional storage chips this round, intensifying fears that the AI boom might be slowing down.(3) Due to the impact of the financial report, SK Hynix's US shares dropped 9% on Tuesday and fell another 9% after hours; SanDisk and Micron Technology both declined by more than 4%, completely erasing the boost from Seagate Technology's earnings report.