SEOUL :South Korea's SK Hynix posted its highest quarterly profit since 2018 on Thursday as the Nvidia supplier forecast second-half AI chip demand to rise further, such as for high bandwidth memory (HBM) used in generative AI chipsets.

It was the world's second-largest memory chipmaker's third consecutive quarterly profit after massive losses last year. SK Hynix has benefited the most among its peers from AI-driven appetite for high-end chips and solid-state drives (SSDs) following its early entry and large investments in the segments.

"The company will further solidify the position as a leader in AI memory products ... based on a stable financial structure," CFO Kim Woohyun said in a statement.

The world's second-biggest memory chipmaker reported a 5.47 trillion won ($3.96 billion) operating profit for the April-June quarter versus a loss of 2.9 trillion won a year earlier.

It was in line with expectations for a 5.4 trillion won operating profit from LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward analysts who are more consistently accurate.

Revenue rose 125 per cent on-year to a record quarterly high of 16.4 trillion won.

($1 = 1,380.3400 won)