How much the global market leader earns from the memory crisis
SK Hynix doubles its operating profit, creating a record year. Investors primarily benefit from this.
(Image: SK Hynix)
The first of three global memory giants is publishing its financial results for the end of 2025. They reveal how much SK Hynix is benefiting from the ongoing memory crisis, especially with DRAM for RAM: In the fourth quarter of 2025, revenue increases by 66 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2024 to just over 32.8 trillion won (KRW). At the current exchange rate, this corresponds to 19.2 billion euros.
The extent of the current supply situation is particularly evident in profit and margin: Quarterly operating profit rises by 137 percent year-on-year to the equivalent of 11.2 billion euros, and the operating margin by a huge 17 percentage points to 58 percent.
This is a high value for memory; normally, such components generate little profit. It appears particularly high because NAND flash for SSDs has not experienced such a strong price rally as DRAM. High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM), DDR5 components, and GDDR7 for graphics cards are driving up the margin. Meanwhile, quarterly net profit increases by 90 percent to the equivalent of 8.9 billion euros.
Record Figures
By all metrics, this is SK Hynix's most successful quarter. The fourth quarter was so successful that it also brings the manufacturer a record year. SK Hynix generated the equivalent of 56.8 billion euros in 2025, an increase of 47 percent compared to 2024. Operating profit doubles to 27.6 billion euros, resulting in an operating margin of 49 percent instead of 35 percent. Net profit rises by 117 percent to 25.1 billion euros.
SK Hynix is initiating initial measures to increase its own production. In Cheongju, South Korea, the manufacturer plans to maximize production earlier than planned. Furthermore, construction of the first of several semiconductor plants in Yongin is beginning. However, SK Hynix apparently does not intend to build multiple semiconductor plants simultaneously there. Packaging plants for further processing of memory components are being built in South Korea and the USA.
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More Money for Investors
Primarily, investors have reason to rejoice. SK Hynix is almost doubling its annual dividend to 2.1 trillion KRW, which is just over 1.2 billion euros. In addition, the company is retiring 15.3 million of its own shares, thus foregoing 2.1 percent of the total issued shares, in order to increase its own stock market value. The retired shares currently have a value of around 7.8 billion euros.
SK Hynix is investing 10 billion US dollars (8.4 billion euros) in a new subsidiary that will specialize in AI solutions. The company is to be established in California, alongside the NAND flash subsidiary Solidigm, acquired by Intel. Through the new subsidiary, SK Hynix aims to invest in AI companies and build partnerships.
SK Hynix is not providing an outlook for the current quarter or the entire year 2026. As the memory crisis has intensified further since December and there is no end in sight, revenue and profit could increase even more. The stock has risen by about eight percent since the announcement of the financial results.
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