On August 17, SK Hynix reported a sharp rise in cash reserves for the first half of 2025, fueled by surging sales of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The company’s cash and cash equivalents reached ₩16.96 trillion ($12.3 billion), up ₩2.81 trillion (approximately $2.04 billion) from the end of 2024 and more than 75% higher than a year earlier.

HBM, critical for fast data processing in GPUs powering artificial intelligence applications, has cemented SK Hynix’s dominance in the next-generation memory market. Revenue for the six-month period rose 38% year-on-year to ₩39.87 trillion, while operating profit nearly doubled to ₩16.65 trillion. Operating cash flow surged 86% to ₩21.73 trillion.

Despite doubling capital expenditure to ₩11.25 trillion in the first half, the company reduced total borrowings by ₩842.7 billion from year-end 2024, bringing debt to ₩21.84 trillion. Compared with the same period last year, borrowings fell by ₩3.39 trillion.

“AI-driven memory sales boosted our second-quarter results to record levels and significantly improved cash flow,” SK Hynix said in its earnings release. The company plans to use its stronger liquidity to reinforce financial stability and invest further in advanced memory production.