SK Hynix recorded an operating loss of 1.7 trillion KRW in the fourth quarter of last year. It is the first quarterly loss in 10 years.
SK Hynix recorded sales of 7.6986 trillion KRW, operating loss of 1.7012 trillion KRW, and net loss of 3.5235 trillion KRW in the fourth quarter. This is the first quarterly operating loss since the third quarter of 2012.
Last year, the company reported 44.648.1 trillion KRW in annual sales and 7.66 trillion KRW in operating profit. The operating profit ratio is 16%.
SK Hynix stated, “Sales growth continued from last year, but due to the sustained downturn in the semiconductor market from the second half, operating profit decreased compared to the previous year. Due to the increased uncertainty in the business environment, the company is reducing investments and costs and focusing markets with high growth potential in order to minimize the impact of a worsening business situation.”
SK Hynix predicted that despite the deepening downturn in the first half of this year, the market situation will improve toward the second half of 2023 as a whole.
The industry predicted that the inventory would reach its peak in the first half and gradually decrease because the supply of memory semiconductor companies will not increase due to cuts in investment and downsizing.
It is predicted that market demand will gradually rebound as IT companies increase their use of memory semiconductors whose prices have dropped significantly compared to their peaks.
Vice President Woohyun Kim of SK Hynix (CFO) said, "We are paying attention to positive signals emerging from the market such as Intel’s recent release of a new CPU that can apply DDR5 and the possible demand for memory for new servers based on AI. As the company has secured the world's best technology in DDR5 for data centers and SSD for 176-layer NAND-based enterprises, we are expecting to make a quick turnaround in the event of a market rebound.”
As announced in its earnings announcement in October last year, SK Hynix said it will maintain its stance to reduce this year's investment scale by more than 50% compared to 2022's 19 trillion KRW. The company plans to continue investing in future growth areas and mass produce its main products such as DDR5, LPDDR5, and HBM3.
Vice President Kim said, “We will do our best to overcome this downturn, arm ourselves by becoming more robust, and take a bigger leap forward as a global top-tier technology company.”
Reporter DongJun Kwon (djkwon@etnews.com)