SK Hynix profit jumps 632%, memory chipmaker sees shortage lasting until 2030

US-listed shares of SK Hynix ( SKHY ) rose more than 9% on Wednesday after the memory maker's record profit and revenue quelled investor worries over the AI trade.

South Korean SK Hynix stock ( 000660.KS ) jumped 10%, while peer Samsung Electronics ( 005930.KS ) gained 9%. US-based Micron ( MU ) also rose 4%.

The South Korea-based company reported a 328% jump in quarterly revenue to roughly $78.7 billion, while operating profit surged 632% to about $62.7 billion, delivering an 80% operating margin. Meanwhile, quarter-over-quarter revenue and operating profit increased by 32% and 38%, respectively.

Growth was driven by surging AI data center demand, higher memory prices, and early shipments of HBM4, which SK Hynix expects to replace HBM3E as its mainstream product.

SK Hynix said more than 50% of its 2027-2028 capacity is already committed under long-term agreements. It reiterated that the AI memory shortage will persist through 2030 as adoption expands beyond cloud providers to enterprises and physical AI applications, including robotics and autonomous driving.

Wall Street remains bullish on memory demand. Now in its 14th quarter, the current chip boom has far outlasted historical cycles, which typically lasted eight to nine quarters.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Srini Pajjuri sees a credible path for the cycle to extend another five quarters.

"Robust AI demand, coupled with a shift toward memory-intensive agentic AI, continues to outpace supply, which is constrained by structural headwinds," Pajjuri wrote on Monday.

SK Hynix said it is returning an additional $45 billion to shareholders, bringing the total buybacks and dividends to an unprecedented $75.2 billion this year.

SK Hynix has been one of this year's highfliers. The company, which operates out of South Korea and trades on the Kospi ( ^KS11 ), listed on the Nasdaq earlier this year.

US-listed shares were trading near their IPO price following bouts of volatility in July and earlier this month. Last week, the company shelved plans for a US listing of its Solidigm flash memory unit after facing opposition from regulators and shareholders.

Ines Ferre is a Senior Business Reporter for Yahoo Finance covering the US stock market, publicly traded companies, and commodities.