SK Hynix warns of continued memory supply constraints

Memory maker SK Hynix has boasted of a massive jump in profit for its latest quarterly financial report, though has news that will come as an unsurprising disappointment to all: Component supply will continue to fall short of demand into the foreseeable future, sustaining high prices.

In its latest financial report for the first quarter of the year, memory maker SK Hynix - the world's second-largest supplier of memory both volatile and non-volatile, behind industry giant Samsung - boasted of a 64 percent increase in net profit from the quarter a year prior, despite shipments of both volatile DRAM and non-volatile NAND flash memory chips decreasing five percent and 10 percent quarter-on-quarter owing to seasonal variance. In terms of sales volume, that equates to a 39 percent jump year-on-year - a figure which SK Hynix executives warn is not coming close to meeting demand for parts.

'Despite the industry's efforts to introduce new production methods and increase shipments,' SK Hynix told analysts and investors in a statement following the earnings filing, 'supply will remain insufficient.' Demand exceeding supply is a good thing for SK Hynix and its various rivals in the memory market, but not so good for consumers: Prices are expected to remain inflated over historical values for the foreseeable future, across both DRAM and NAND flash markets - meaning your next build isn't going to get cheaper any time soon.

SK Hynix has confirmed that its expansion into a new facility in South Korea's Cheongju is on-track for a timely completion, which will allow it to increase its output - though not whether a single additional fabrication facility will have enough of an impact on supply to see retail prices fall.