[News] SK hynix Posts Record Q2 Profit: Plans Bigger 2025 Capex; SOCAMM Shipments by Year-End

Riding strong demand for 12-high HBM3E and broad NAND growth, SK hynix smashed records in Q2, announcing a stellar 22.23 trillion won ($16.15B) in sales and 9.21 trillion won ($6.7B) in operating profit—the best quarterly results ever, according to its press release and The Korea Times.

The memory giant’s Q2 sales soared 35% and profits jumped 68% year-over-year, both well above market expectations, while the operating margin reached an impressive 41%.

Aggressive HBM Expansion

Notably, SK hynix gives positive signs about the demand for the second half of the year following Goldman Sachs’ relatively conservative outlook on HBM prices afterwards, as it flags today at the earnings call that its 2025 capital expenditure will increase from earlier plans, driven largely by equipment investments for HBM production.

According to Chosun Biz, SK hynix’s more aggressive capex plan reflects efforts to meet this year’s HBM supply commitments and build long-term growth projects like the M15X fab and Yongin chip cluster. As Korea JoongAng Daily reported, the M15X factory in Cheongju is set to start operations in Q4, and construction of the mega chip cluster in Yongin will kick off this year, aiming for a Q2 2027 launch.

On the other hand, Reuters suggests that SK hynix’s increased capital expenditure shows its confidence amid fierce competition with Samsung next year. Back in March, SK hynix aimed to finalize 2026 sales volumes with customers by mid-year, the report adds.

The company aims to double its HBM shipments in 2025 and is fully committed to delivering HBM4 on schedule to maintain its lead in the race. In March, it has shipped the world’s first 12-layer HBM4 samples, and is expected to kick off mass production in late 2025.

SOCAMM Progress Reveiled

Notably, with NVIDIA said to be aiming to procure up to 800,000 SOCAMM units this year and U.S.-based Micron appears to be leading the charge, SK hynix is also speeding up the development. According to ZDNet and the company’s press release, SK hynix plans to begin supplying SOCAMM modules—low-power DRAM for servers—within 2025.

As per ZDNet, SOCAMM (Small Outline Compression Attached Memory Module) is a next-generation memory module developed under NVIDIA’s proprietary standard. It integrates four LPDDR chips to boost power efficiency and significantly increases the number of I/O channels, making it ideal for high-performance computing applications, the report notes.

Read more

• [News] SOCAMM Ignites a New Memory War After HBM — Samsung and SK hynix Join the Race
• [News] HBM Prices Reportedly Face Double-digit Drop Risks in 2026, Posing Challenges for SK hynix

(Photo credit: SK hynix)