*

Benefits from AI surge ahead of rivals Samsung, Micron

*

Profit exceeds larger rival Samsung's forecast Q4 profit

for

first time-analysts

*

Consumer memory chip market to pick up in H2, SK Hynix ( HXSCF )

says

(Add details about Samsung milestone in paragraph 3, HBM

details in paragraphs 5, 8)

By Joyce Lee and Hyunjoo Jin

SEOUL, Jan 23 (Reuters) - South Korea's SK Hynix ( HXSCF )

on Thursday posted a record quarterly profit as the

Nvidia ( NVDA ) supplier saw strong sales of advanced chips such

as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in generative artificial

intelligence chipsets.

The quarterly operating profit of 8.1 trillion won ($5.64

billion) from the world's second-biggest memory chipmaker

exceeded its bigger rival Samsung Electronics' ( SSNLF )

forecast December-quarter operating profit of 6.5 trillion won.

This is the first time that SK Hynix's ( HXSCF ) quarterly operating

profit beat Samsung's total operating profit, analysts said, as

its rival lags in supplying high-end HBM chips to Nvidia ( NVDA ).

"Demand of HBM and high-density server DRAM... will continue

to increase as global big tech companies' investment in AI

servers grows and AI inference technology gains importance," SK

Hynix ( HXSCF ) said in a statement.

The company said its HBM chips accounted for 40% of its

total DRAM revenue in the fourth quarter. Overall, its revenue

for the quarter rose 75% year-on-year to 19.8 trillion won.

SK Hynix's ( HXSCF ) operating profit result was slightly above the 8

trillion won average forecast by LSEG SmartEstimate, which is

weighted toward analysts who are more consistently accurate, and

up from 346 billion won a year earlier.

SK Hynix ( HXSCF ) has been increasingly outperforming rivals Samsung

and U.S.-based Micron Technology ( MU ) in recent quarters, as

it benefits the most from AI-driven appetite for high-end memory

chips following its early entry and large investments in HBM

chip development.

SK Hynix ( HXSCF ) said it began supply of 12-layer HBM3E chips, the

most advanced HBM model currently in mass production, to a

customer in the fourth quarter.

The company's shares have jumped about 30% so far this year

on bullish sentiment driven by its business discussions with

Nvidia ( NVDA ), outperforming Samsung, whose shares rose 2% over the

same period.

SK Hynix's ( HXSCF ) shares benefited on Tuesday from U.S. President

Donald Trump's announcement of private-sector investment of up

to $500 billion to fund infrastructure for AI.

For the conventional memory chip market, customers are

expected to reduce inventory of PCs and smartphones, SK Hynix ( HXSCF )

said. "Sales of PCs and smartphones equipped with AI will expand

and the market situation will pick up in the second half of the

year," it added.

($1 = 1,435.1200 won)