[News] SK hynix Drives 65% of Group’s First 3 Quarters Exports, Poised to Lift 2025 to Record High

SK hynix has emerged as the growth engine of SK Group, powering the conglomerate’s strong performance in global exports. According to Prime Economy and Hinews, SK Group’s exports are on track to surpass last year’s 102.5 trillion won and hit a record-breaking 120-trillion-won total in 2025, fueled by SK hynix’s booming semiconductor exports—especially high-value HBM.

The reports note that through the third quarter, SK Group’s exports hit 87.8 trillion won, up nearly 20% from 73.7 trillion won a year earlier. Notably, the reports highlight that SK hynix alone drove 65% of the exports (56.7 trillion won), up from 54% a year ago, cementing its role as the group’s growth engine. According to the reports, SK hynix paid 4.3 trillion won in corporate taxes through the third quarter, a 45-fold jump from 94 billion won a year earlier.

The chipmaker’s strong performance is also fueling the national economy. South Korea’s exports reached $185 billion in 3Q25, the highest since 2010, with high-value memory semiconductors contributing $46.6 billion, making them a key growth driver, as per the reports.

Not planned to stop here, SK hynix is ramping up its DRAM capacity to fuel future growth. According to Hankyung, the company will more than eightfold its 10 nm 6th-gen DRAM (1C DRAM) output in 2026. With AI shifting from training to inference-driven services, demand is moving from expensive HBM to high-performance, cost-efficient general-purpose DRAM, shaping SK hynix’s expansion strategy, the report notes.

According to TrendForce, this projected eight-fold increase for SK hynix is based on a 2025 baseline of just 10K wafers for the 1C node. Output is expected to climb toward 100K by the end of 2026 as technology migration advances. TrendForce’s assessment supports this trajectory, noting that supply shortages will persist throughout 2026.

To meet rising orders from big tech players like NVIDIA, SK hynix will also ramp up output of its next-gen GDDR7 graphics DRAM and low-power DRAM modules (SOCAMM2) built on 1C DRAM technology, the Hankyung report adds.

Read more

• [News] SK hynix Reportedly Raises Yongin Investments to KRW 600T; Samsung Also Boosts Spending
• [News] SK hynix Reportedly Poised for Over 70% Operating Margin for General-Purpose DRAM amid Tight Supply

(Photo credit: SK hynix)