Seoul: South Korean chipmaking giant SK hynix Inc. announced on Thursday that its second-quarter operating profit exceeded 9 trillion won (US$6.53 billion) for the first time, fueled by a surge in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, particularly high bandwidth memory (HBM).

According to Yonhap News Agency, the company, in a regulatory filing, reported an operating profit of a record 9.21 trillion won for the April-June period. This marks a 68.5 percent increase from the previous year, setting a new quarterly record. Revenue also saw a significant rise, climbing 35.4 percent year-on-year to 22.23 trillion won, while net income increased by 69.8 percent to 6.99 trillion won.

Both operating profit and sales figures exceeded the previous all-time highs set in the fourth quarter of last year. SK hynix attributed this remarkable performance to the growing demand for AI-related products, reinforcing its position as a global leader in HBM technology.

In a company statement, SK hynix noted, "Aggressive investments by global big tech companies in AI led to a steady increase in demand for AI memory. Shipments of both DRAM and NAND flash were higher than expected, helping the company log the best quarterly results in its history."