SK Hynix’s High-End Memory Chips Sold Out for 2024, Reflecting AI Hardware Demand

SK Hynix, one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, has announced that its entire 2024 production of high-end memory chips has been sold out, with most of next year’s line also gone. This surge in demand for cutting-edge AI hardware reflects the increasing usage of AI devices and the need for high-speed, high-capacity, and low-power memory chips specialized for AI.

As the world’s second-largest memory chip maker, SK Hynix dominates the market for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips and is a key supplier to Nvidia, which controls about 80 percent of the global artificial intelligence chip market. The company’s CEO, Kwak Noh-jung, stated that the rise in AI device usage will lead to a significant increase in demand for AI-specific memory chips.

With the growing demand for AI hardware components, SK Hynix expects that AI hardware components such as HBM chips will account for 61 percent of the company’s chip production, up from just five percent in 2023. The company also announced that it will begin mass production of its fifth-generation HBM chips in the third quarter and has partnered with Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC to produce next-generation HBM chips.

Thanks to strong sales of AI hardware components like HBM chips, SK Hynix reported its second-highest operating profit in the first quarter of this year. Micron, another Nvidia supplier, also announced that its 2024 HBM supply was sold out, indicating the high demand for AI hardware components in the market.