Flush with cash, SK hynix spawns mysteriously named 'AI Co.'
SK hynix is surfing the AI hype wave by setting up what it nebulously describes as a solutions biz to further exploit the hysteria.
The chipmaker is already flying high on the back of booming demand for datacenters. Its share price has quadrupled in the past year as it supplies a vital component, one now in tight supply. Judging by its financials published today, the AI gravy train isn't slowing.
The Korean corp is launching a new subsidiary in February, referred to only as "AI Company" (AI Co.) at this point. It aims to become "a key partner" in the AI datacenter ecosystem to "proactively seize opportunities."
The market is now seeing demand for integrated AI solutions that combine hardware, software, and services rather than just standalone products, SK says.
The Register asked for more information, but a spokesperson told us: "AI Co. aims to serve as an optimized AI solutions provider for various industries by investing in the AI datacenter ecosystem." The plan is to focus first on software for AI system optimization, then gradually expand investments within the datacenter arena, we're told.
Investment in other companies and technologies is also part of the circular AI economy. SK hynix says that "solutions commercialization" is one of the proposed business activities too.
SK hynix says it is committing $10 billion to starting the new operation. An interim management team and a board of directors will be named next month.
Shipments of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) aimed at AI servers are forecast to triple by 2027, according to Counterpoint Research. Unit sales are estimated to exceed 15 million by 2028, surpassing shipments of the datacenter GPUs that currently dominate AI processing.
ASICs are generally used more for inference, and are cheaper than high-end GPUs in terms of operating costs, but may incur higher upfront costs. Broadcom is expected to take 60 percent market share in 2027.
It will establish the biz by restructuring Solidigm, the existing California-based SSD subsidiary. Solidigm will change its name to AI Co. before transferring SSD manufacturing operations to a new subsidiary named Solidigm Inc.
One of the aims seems to be to continue promoting the "chip technologies such as HBM" that have helped propel SK hynix into the AI hype cycle.
Memory demand is "materially outpacing supply," according to analysts at IDC, with chipmakers reallocating production capacity to favor components for servers and GPUs rather than consumer devices as prices rise across the board.
The effect of the memory crisis can be seen in the Korean company's latest financial results, with revenue for 2025 up 47 percent to ₩97.14 trillion ($67.9 billion) and Q4 revenue up 66 percent on a year ago to ₩32.8 trillion ($22.9 billion)
It's also good news for Netherlands tech giant ASML, which develops photolithography machines needed for chip production. Its calendar Q4 revenue of €9.7 billion ($11.6 billion) came in toward the higher end of previous forecasts, but the firm expects demand for its most advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) systems to increase significantly this year.
None of this, however, seems to be good news for end users who face paying significantly more for anything that incorporates memory, including PCs and smartphones as well as servers and GPUs. Analysts predict that PC shipments will fall this year simply because there won't be enough memory chips to go round and prices will jump as a result. ®
