SK Hynix says some customers brought forward orders ahead of US tariffs
SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, said on Thursday that some customers have brought forward orders in preparation for new U.S. tariffs on semiconductors.
Speaking at the company's annual shareholder meeting, SK Hynix's Head of Global Sales and Marketing, Lee Sang-rak, said the «pull-in» effects, along with the reduction in customers' inventory, led to favourable market conditions recently.
But he added it remains to be seen whether the trend will continue.
In January, SK Hynix had said its shipments of DRAM and NAND flash memory chips would decline by between 10% and 20% in the first quarter of this year from the previous quarter.
US chipmaker Micron, SanDisk and China's YMTC have recently raised their memory chip prices, partly due to robust demand from the AI market, according to media reports.
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Micron, SanDisk and YMTC were not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.
U.S. President Donald Trump said in February he intends to impose tariffs on imports of semiconductors and some other products «in the neighborhood of 25%».
«Fears that the U.S. may impose semiconductor tariffs in April have led to preemptive transfers of semiconductor inventory to the United States,» Nomura said in a report this week.
«It is not yet known if the tariffs will actually be imposed; if this materialises, it could lead to higher prices for set products, which could dampen demand,» it added.
SK Hynix, a key supplier to AI chip leader Nvidia, expects «explosive growth» in high