S. Korea's Hynix posts record operating profit

South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix on Thursday posted a record second quarter operating profit on the back of robust chip demand and strong semiconductor prices.

The world's number two memory chipmaker after Samsung Electronics said operating profit for April-June jumped to 1.1 trillion won ($985.6 million), a sharp increase from 5 billion won a year earlier.

Sales also hit a quarterly record, up 49 percent from last year to 3.9 trillion won.

The maker of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash memory chips reported its first profitable quarter in more than a year in July-September 2012 after struggling for years on weak chip prices and sagging global demand for electronics.

SK Hynix, which became part of the SK Group last year, has seen its business boosted by growth of its main clients in China such as electronics giants Huawei and Lenovo.

Global shipments and prices have continued to rise on growing demand for DRAM chips for personal computers, mobile devices like smartphones and corporate data centres.

Shipments of DRAM, which accounted for 73 percent of the firm's revenue, rose 20 percent from the previous quarter, while average selling prices climbed 16 percent.

"Demand for mobile DRAMs... will continue to rise in the second half of this year as global markets for low-end smartphones grow," Hynix said in a statement.

© 2013 AFP