Seoul: The head of SK hynix Inc. has stated that the South Korean chipmaker is on track to achieve its business targets for the year, though he cautioned that the latter half of the year may see increased uncertainties due to evolving U.S. trade policies, industry sources reported on Wednesday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, in a meeting with employees on Tuesday, SK hynix Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kwak Noh-jung expressed that while forecasting full-year earnings remains challenging, the company's performance so far aligns with its annual objectives. Kwak encouraged employees to collaborate to meet this year's targets, although he did not disclose specific details.
Kwak highlighted potential U.S. tariffs on individual semiconductor products as a source of increased global business volatility in the second half. In April, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the application of reciprocal tariffs on imports from countries with trade surpluses with the United States, including a 10 percent baseline duty on all imports. South Korean products faced a 25 percent reciprocal tariff.
While sectors such as automobiles, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals were exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, they remain under the threat of existing or future sector-specific duties. These shifting and unpredictable U.S. trade policies have posed significant strategic challenges for major South Korean exporters.
Despite these external challenges, SK hynix anticipates solid earnings for its semiconductor division in the second half, driven by sustained demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM) products. SK hynix is a vital supplier of advanced HBM3E chips to Nvidia Corp. The company has also provided samples of its forthcoming HBM4, with mass production slated for the latter half of the year.