24/04/2026

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | APR 24, 2026

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SK hynix posts record quarterly profit on AI boom

American firms voice ‘concern’

over China’s new supply chain rules

BEIJING: China’s new supply chain regulations could be a “concern” for US firms, the American Chamber of Commerce in China warned yesterday. The regulations, released on April 7, allow Chinese authorities to take measures against foreign companies or individuals that “harm China’s industrial and supply chain security”. The rules appeared aimed at stopping companies from removing China from their supply chains, AmCham China’s president Michael Hart said yesterday. Western governments are increasingly concerned about their reliance on Chinese supply chains, particularly in rare earths, which China dominates. The minerals are critical for a wide range of products from everyday consumer electronics to weapons, and Chinese export curbs during a blistering trade war with the United States last year sent shockwaves across industries. “There’s a little bit of irony as China continues to build up its own supply chain to make sure it’s not reliant on others,“ Hart told a news conference launching his group’s annual report on American business in China. Most US companies are not moving manufacturing out of China, he said, but some were looking to diversify, and if the new rules restrict those moves, it would be a “concern”. The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC) criticised the provisions as “unclear and vague” earlier this month, saying their implementation “increases the risk of doing business in or with China”. They “leave open the possibility that several legitimate commercial decisions” could be construed as threatening China’s supply chains, it said. “The threat that individual employees could be punished through exit bans is concerning,“ the EUCCC added. Hart said more clarity on the rules’ implementation was needed. – AFP

to act if inflation expectations slipped. Inflation rose to 4.1% in March from February’s 2.4%, the fastest pace in 20 months, breaching the BSP’s 2% to 4% target, due largely to double-digit increases in gasoline and diesel prices. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who declared a state of national energy emergency last month, has suspended the collection of excise taxes on kerosene and liquified petroleum gas, widely used for cooking, to help cushion households from soaring costs. S&P Global and Fitch have cut the Philippines’ sovereign outlook, citing heightened risks to the fuel-import-dependent economy from the war in the Middle East. – Reuters strong” this year for SK hynix, Kim Young-gun at Mirae Asset Securities said in a note this month. Reports suggest that memory chip suppliers like SK hynix are entering into long-term supply agreements of three years or more with big tech customers, he wrote. “In some cases, customers are even seeking options to extend contract durations beyond the initial term, underscoring their emphasis on supply stability.” The rush to build AI data centres has sent orders soaring for HBM chips, which help the systems process vast amounts of data. But as chipmakers prioritise the lucrative AI industry, they are producing fewer of the more workaday chips used in everyday consumer electronics like phones and laptops, pushing up device prices. “Excess demand is expected to persist through the end of the year” for so-called DRAM and NAND memory chips, said a Shinhan Securities report from early April. That allows “suppliers to maintain the upper hand in pricing power”, it said, predicting strong annual results for SK hynix in 2026. SK hynix said on Thursday that it “plans to continue rolling out new products across both DRAM and NAND flash to address the diversifying memory demand”. But Park Joon-deok, its head of DRAM marketing, warned suppliers were struggling to meet demand and that rising prices for memory would likely be “more prolonged compared with the past”. The firm is increasing its chipmaking capacity and plans to spend 19 trillion won to build a new factory in South Korea’s Cheongju. – AFP

o Soaring demand for semiconductors drives fastest South Korea growth in five years

SEOUL: Chip giant SK hynix said yesterday that net profit soared almost 400% to a record high in the first quarter thanks to the artificial intelligence boom, which helped it shrug off concerns that the Middle East war could hit the semiconductor industry. Huge investments from governments and major technology companies are driving frenzied demand for the hardware that powers generative AI tools. The South Korean company said net profit surged to 40.3 trillion won (RM108 billion) in January-March, smashing the 29.4 trillion won estimated in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Revenue surpassed 50 trillion won for the first time in a single quarter, while operating profit nearly doubled from the previous quarter. “Despite the fact that (the) first quarter is typically a seasonal downturn, strong demand persisted due to expanded investments in AI infrastructure,” SK hynix said. “As AI evolves from large model training to the stage of agentic AI, which repeatedly performs real-time inference across various service environments, the foundation for memory demand is expanding.” The AI boom has pushed up prices and shipments of conventional memory chips, while demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, used in AI servers, has soared.

That has helped SK hynix shares to skyrocket about 600% over the past year. Its stock price rose around 1% in morning trade, as Seoul’s benchmark Kospi index opened at a record high. Soaring demand for semiconductors has driven stronger-than-expected growth in South Korea, which on Wednesday posted its fastest quarterly expansion in more than five years. The country’s dependence on Middle Eastern fuel imports remains a cause for concern, though SK hynix said the Iran war would only have a “very limited” impact on its supplies of raw materials. “We have completed the diversification of suppliers... on which we previously had a high reliance on the Middle East,” chief financial officer Kim Woo-hyun said in an earnings call. Long-term contracts for oil and gas also mean that war-induced price fluctuations are “not significant”, Kim added. Along with rival Samsung Electronics, SK hynix is supplying HBM to US industry titan Nvidia for its forthcoming cutting-edge “Vera Rubin” AI platform, which is expected to further boost the technology’s capabilities. While investors periodically get the jitters over how long the AI boom will last, analysts have said they do not expect the bubble to burst any time soon. “We expect earnings momentum to remain

Philippine central bank hikes policy rate to rein in inflation MANILA: The Philippine central bank hiked its key interest rate to 4.50% yesterday to keep a lid on rising inflation, with concerns over spiralling fuel costs overriding the need to keep growth on track. rate, while a strong minority of 12 predicted a 25-basis-point increase. Remolona said the decision made yesterday was not unanimous, but reflected “a good consensus”.

The central bank held an off-cycle meeting on March 26, becoming the first central bank in Asia to do so, reflecting heightened concerns about the impact of the Middle East conflict on inflation and economic growth. At that meeting, the central bank left policy rates steady, warning that tighter policy could “delay the recovery” of an economy projected to grow 4.4% this year, while signalling its readiness

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said inflation is expected to reach 6.3% this year, and governor Eli Remolona warned that more hikes could follow, with the country’s easing cycle now over. “I think further rate hikes are part of the calculation, but of course it will always depend on what data we see next,“ he said at a press conference. In an April 15-20 poll, 14 out of 26 economists expected no change in the overnight borrowing

Samsung workers rally in thousands as strike looms SEOUL: Tens of thousands of Samsung Electronics workers rallied in South Korea yesterday to demand higher pay and bonuses, as their threat of a weeks-long strike hung over the technology giant. Samsung is a major producer of chips used in everything from artificial intelligence to consumer electronics, raising the prospect that the planned walkout could cause severe disruption and losses. and “Change it to be transparent!” gathered in the sunlit streets around the factory, Samsung’s largest for making memory and logic chips. “We will not back down until we are guaranteed a transparent compensation system,“ said one female union member on stage, drawing applause from the crowd. The dispute comes as South Korean technology firms ride an AI boom that has bumped up national growth, pushed the stock market to record highs and drawn it closer to industry leaders the United States and China.

Samsung’s shares have surged nearly 300% over the past year, while its rival SK hynix said yesterday that it had obliterated its quarterly profit record. Samsung said this year it had begun mass production of next-generation high bandwidth memory chips, HBM4, seen as a key component for scaling up the vast data centres needed for AI development. Long staunchly anti-union, founder Lee Byung-chul once vowed never to allow unions “until I have dirt over my eyes”. He died in 1987. Samsung Electronics’ first labour union was formed in the late 2010s. – AFP

The workers are also demanding that Samsung allocates 15% of its operating profits for bonuses. The unions, which represent nearly 90,000 workers in total, have said they will stage a strike from May 21 to June 7 unless a deal with management is reached. The company said in a statement to AFP that it would “continue to work toward reaching a wage agreement at the earliest possible date”.

An association of three labour unions held the rally outside the company’s plant in Pyeongtaek, south of the capital Seoul, to demand a 7% wage hike, the end of a cap on bonuses and other benefits. “More than 40,000 members” took part, a union official told AFP, declining to be named. Local police did not immediately give an estimate. Demonstrators waving banners reading “Let’s eliminate the bonus cap”

Samsung Electronics union members chant slogans during a protest in front of the company semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek. – REUTERSPIC