South Korean Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. that are the world’s two largest memory vendors eye combined sales and profit milestone of 100 trillion won ($88.8 billion won) and 50 trillion won this year from chipmaking as they benefit from explosive demand and tight supply in chips amid ever-growing appetite for memory to power big data-based automation and digitalization.

According to financial industry sources on Monday, the combined sales of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix from memory chip business are anticipated to top 100 trillion won this year owing to the so-called super cycle - price sharpening from tight supply and strong demand.

Samsung Electronics is estimated to earn between 32 trillion won and 36 trillion won from selling chips worth 72 trillion won to 78 trillion won this year. Memory chips will also bring SK Hynix unprecedented profit of 13 trillion won to 14 trillion won from sales of 28 trillion won to 29 trillion won this year, according to analysts’ estimates.

Sales in memory chips had been 33.24 trillion won for Samsung Electronics and 13 trillion won for SK Hynix in the first half.

The boom that started off from late last year shows no sign of easing, and to meet sizzling demand, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have ramped up their memory chip production.

Industry experts predict the boon in semiconductors could last longer than expected, given the growing applications for big data and memory-based automation.

The growth driver in the global memory chip market has shifted to enterprise servers and data systems from consumer IT products, said Lee Seung-woo, analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities Co. As business users are less sensitive to price change, the demand for memory chip has continued to stay strong despite high price, Lee explained.

Shares of Samsung Electronics closed Monday at 2,624,000 won, up 4.13 percent from the previous session, and those of SK Hynix closed at 79,700 won, up 3.24 percent.

By Lee Dong-in

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