South Korea's SK Hynix Inc. announced record profits for the second quarter on the strength of memory prices. Revenue grew 41 percent from the first quarter and 49 percent from the second quarter of last year to 3.93 trillion won (about $3.52 billion).

The company credited the record results to high prices for specialty and mobile DRAM. Yields and profitability improved for all its products, including DRAM, NAND Flash, and multi-chip packages made from a combination of die.

Net profit grew fivefold from the first quarter to 947 billion won ($850 million), versus a loss of 53 billion won in the second quarter of 2012.

Russ Fischer wrote in a Seeking Alpha post that the strong uplift in revenue and profit is set to be reflected in the results of other memory companies, including Micron Technology Inc. in the US.

DRAM bit shipments increased 20 percent from the first quarter, while the average selling price (ASP) went up 16 percent. For NAND flash, bit shipments increased 29 percent, and the ASP rose 5 percent.

Hynix collapsed in 2001 in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis. At that time, there was talk that Micron would buy the company, and foreign companies argued that Hynix should be allowed to fail and not be bailed out. But a consortium of Korean banks and other investors converted debt into equity, which they held for up to a decade while gradually exiting the company.

By: DocMemory
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