SK Hynix sees memory chip demand slowing in H2, including server chips
Employees walk past the logo of SK Hynix at its headquarters in Seongnam, South Korea, April 25, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
SEOUL, July 27 (Reuters) – South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc (000660.KS) said it expects memory chip demand to slow in the second half of the year, after booking its biggest second-quarter profit since 2018.
"Shipments of PCs and smartphones that contain memory (chips) are expected to become lower than initially predicted," SK Hynix said in a statement.
"Demand for server memory supplied to data center customers is also likely to slow as customers will consume their inventories."
Rising inflation, concerns about a downturn in major markets, and repeated COVID-19 lockdowns in China have resulted in slowing smartphone sales. As well, a clutch of chipmakers including Micron Technology Inc (MU.O) have warned of a rising chip glut after a two-year long global shortage of chips.
SK Hynix's prediction that server chip demand will also slow in the second half of the year is a blow to what had been the only remaining bright spot in memory chip demand, as large tech firms such as Amazon (AMZN.O) that use a lot of data centre services met cloud demand.
SK Hynix's bigger rival Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) earlier this month reported a strong preliminary second-quarter profit, likely on server chip demand.
The world's second-biggest memory chipmaker said on Wednesday its operating profit rose 56% to 4.2 trillion won ($3.2 billion) in the April-June quarter, versus 2.7 trillion won a year earlier, helped by robust demand from server clients and a strong dollar that offset higher material costs.
Analysts expected a profit of 4 trillion won, according to Refinitiv SmartEstimate.
Revenue climbed 34% on-year to a record 13.8 trillion won.
Shipments of DRAM chips, used in devices and servers, rose around 10% in the second quarter from the first, SK Hynix said. Shipments of NAND Flash chips, that retain power in smartphones after the power is turned off, rose by a high single-digit percentage.
SK Hynix's chip sales are made mainly in dollars, which hit a 20-year high during the quarter, boosting the value of its profits reported in Korean won.
($1 = 1,310.3400 won)
Reporting by Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Richard Pullin
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Source:www.reuters.com
