Fuelled by AI demand and cutting-edge tech, SK hynix catches up with Samsung in global memory sales, posting a 31% QoQ revenue surge, signalling a fierce new battle for dominance.
SK hynix has matched its fellow South Korean tech giant Samsung in memory revenue for the second quarter of 2025, with both companies posting $15.5 billion in earnings, according to Counterpoint Research.
The report highlighted that this tie marks a significant moment in the global memory industry, highlighting SK hynix’s rapid rise to parity with long-time leader Samsung.
This development comes as SK hynix posted a 31% quarter-on-quarter revenue increase, the highest among the top three players. Samsung followed with an 18% increase, while Micron recorded a 19% jump to reach $10.2 billion.
The report considered that this comeback has been remarkable. After suffering its largest-ever quarterly loss of almost $2.7 billion in Q1 2023, SK hynix initiated major restructuring and production cuts.
The turnaround gained momentum in early 2024 when the company became the first to begin mass production of HBM3E memory chips.
By the first quarter of 2025, SK hynix had already overtaken Samsung in dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) revenue. Just one quarter later, it now stands shoulder to shoulder with its rival in total memory revenue, spanning both DRAM and NAND.
Jeongku Choi, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint, noted that SK hynix’s technological leadership and strategic focus on high-performance memory have paid off. “It is a story of innovation-driven recovery,” he said.
Meanwhile, Samsung faced mixed fortunes. Its operating profit for the quarter fell 56% year-on-year. Although the company has begun shipping HBM3E to AMD and Broadcom, future shipments to NVIDIA remain uncertain.
Adding to the challenge, tighter export restrictions to China could further cap its HBM business growth in 2025.
Micron also saw a strong rebound, with revenues climbing from $8.6 billion in Q1 to $10.2 billion in Q2.
Looking ahead, the report predicts that as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and data centre memory grows, SK hynix’s aggressive push into advanced memory formats like HBM3E could keep it in close contention with Samsung in the quarters ahead.
