Seoul: Chip giant SK hynix Inc. is expected to post more than 10 trillion won (US$7 billion) in operating profit for the third quarter for the first time in its history, a survey showed Sunday.

According to Yonhap News Agency, SK hynix is forecast to record 24.5 trillion won in sales and 11.3 trillion won in operating profit for the July-September period.

The figure would surpass the company’s previous quarterly records of 22.2 trillion won in sales and 9.2 trillion won in operating profit set in the second quarter. It would mark the first time SK hynix has exceeded the 10 trillion-won milestone in quarterly operating profit since the company was acquired by SK Group in 2012. In South Korea, only Samsung Electronics Co. has achieved that level.

SK hynix’s record-breaking performance is attributed to rising global demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM) amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom and higher prices of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips. “Sales of 12-layer HBM3E products, which account for more than 50 percent of SK hynix’s HBM sales, along with solid prices for legacy memory chips, have driven the company’s third-quarter earnings,” said Lee Se-chul, an analyst at Citi Global Markets.

According to recent data compiled by industry tracker Counterpoint Research, SK hynix saw its sales in the global memory chip market rise 13 percent on-year to $17.5 billion in the third quarter. SK hynix is scheduled to announce its third-quarter earnings report on Oct. 29.