HBM explosion reshapes the semiconductor industry landscape, SK Hynix's annual profit surpasses Samsung for the first time

SK Hynix’s leading position in the HBM sector is rewriting the competitive landscape of Korea’s semiconductor industry. For the first time in 2025, the company’s operating profit will surpass that of long-time industry giant Samsung Electronics, marking a new competitive phase in the global memory chip market.

Data released on Wednesday shows SK Hynix’s full-year operating profit for 2025 reached 47.2 trillion KRW, overtaking Samsung Electronics’ 43.6 trillion KRW announced the following day. This is the first time since SK Hynix was acquired by SK Telecom for around $3 billion in 2012 that its annual profits have exceeded Samsung’s. Samsung’s memory chip division’s operating profit for 2025 is about 24.9 trillion KRW.

The core driving force behind this turnaround is the High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market. SK Hynix has solidified its global leadership in this specialty chip field for AI processors and servers, securing large orders from clients such as Nvidia. According to Counterpoint Research, SK Hynix’s revenue share in the HBM market reached 57% in Q3 2025, while Samsung’s was only 22%.

For investors, the competition is far from over. Samsung is expanding HBM sales and plans to start delivering sixth-generation HBM4 products this year. Analysts expect SK Hynix to maintain its high share and dominant position in the HBM4 market, but Samsung is poised to make substantial progress with the new generation.

The AI Infrastructure Boom Produces New Winners

SK Hynix’s success is built on its leadership in HBM technology. High Bandwidth Memory is a specialty chip used in AI processors and servers made by companies like Nvidia.

“SK Hynix is clearly Asia’s outstanding ‘AI winner’,” said Counterpoint Research Research Director MS Hwang, stating that the company’s advantages in HBM and other AI server chip quality and supply are critical in the current AI infrastructure boom.

SK Hynix laid out its HBM strategy early and last year obtained the largest share of Nvidia’s memory contracts. According to local media reports on Wednesday, SK Hynix has secured more than two-thirds of the HBM supply orders for Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin product.

SK Hynix also slightly leads Samsung in the broader DRAM market. DRAM, or Dynamic Random Access Memory, is used for temporary data storage in computing devices such as personal computers, servers, and data centers. Hwang noted that even if Samsung regains the top memory revenue spot in Q4 2025, SK Hynix will still maintain market leadership in both areas.

Samsung Strives for Breakthroughs with Next-Gen Products

The competition is heating up. Rivals like Samsung and Micron have made some breakthroughs in the HBM sector.

Samsung has expanded HBM sales and announced plans to begin delivering HBM4 products—the latest sixth-generation HBM technology—this year. Ray Wang, an analyst at SemiAnalysis focusing on memory and AI supply chains, said: “We expect Samsung to make significant strides in supplying HBM4 for Nvidia’s new products, overcoming last year’s quality issues.”

Nevertheless, analysts still expect SK Hynix to maintain a high share and its dominance in the HBM4 market. “The HBM4 race is essentially between SK Hynix and Samsung, as we believe these two companies are more competitive than Micron,” Wang stated.

He added: "We expect SK Hynix to maintain its leading position in HBM4, while Samsung will make substantial progress and be more competitive in HBM4 than with previous generations."

The outcome of this technological race will directly impact the global AI chip supply chain landscape and determine future market share allocation between Korea’s two semiconductor giants. For investors betting on AI infrastructure, it is vital to closely monitor both companies’ progress in HBM4 mass production and customer certification.

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