SK Hynix announces mass production of updated AI chip, spurring rally in Asian semiconductor stocks

SK Hynix shares surged more than 9% Thursday morning after the company said it has started mass production of a new version of its high-bandwidth memory chips and aims for delivery by year-end.

The product would be the world's first 12-layer version of HBM3E, which refers to the latest generation of an advanced memory chip that's capable of handling high-end generative artificial intelligence work.

SK Hynix said the chip would have a 36 gigabyte capacity, the largest among existing HBM chips. That's a 50% increase in capacity from the company's previous eight-layer chip, which it started mass producing in March, while maintaining the same thickness, the company said.

The South Korean giant has been a main supplier of the high-bandwidth memory chips catering to AI chipsets for companies like Nvidia. It plans to deliver the latest product by the end of the year.

The development came as the world's second-largest memory chipmaker seeks to continue its dominance in the AI memory chip market.

HBM is a type of dynamic random access memory, known as DRAM, where chips are vertically stacked to save space and reduce power consumption. SK Hynix, Micron Technology and Samsung Electronics are the three main manufacturers of HBM chips.

Overnight stateside, Micron issued surprisingly strong sales and profit forecasts for its fiscal first quarter, an indication of continued benefits from booming demand for HBM chips. The largest U.S. maker of computer memory chips expects first-quarter profit of $1.74 per share on $8.7 billion in revenue. That beat market projections for profits of $1.65 per share on $8.28 billion in revenue, according to LSEG consensus estimates.

Buoyed by Micron's upbeat forecasts and SK Hynix's announcement, Asian chip stocks rallied Thursday morning, with Tokyo Electron climbing 7%, Advantest jumping 5%. The world's largest memory chipmaker Samsung Electronics advanced over 3%.

The benchmark South Korean blue chip Kospi index rose 2%.

— Reuters contributed to the story.