SK hynix Inc. surpassed industry estimates with its 1.07 trillion won net profit in the third quarter, up 117.5 percent from a year earlier, due to an increase in demand for mobile chips from China's Huawei Technologies Co.
Its third-quarter operating profit more than doubled to 1.29 trillion won from 472.6 billion won last year, while sales jumped 18.9 percent on-year to 8.12 trillion won.
SK hynix, South Korea's second-largest chipmaker, attributed the net profit increase to purchases of its DRAM consumer products by a "certain customer," referring to Huawei, which aggressively purchased semiconductors ahead of the US export restrictions on Sept. 15.
The sharp third-quarter earnings increase was also attributed to a base effect from suffering one of its worst performances last year when its operating profit plummeted 33.2 percent, while sales dropped 5.6 percent.
There was an industry-wide slump during the said period.
