SK Hynix Posts Record ₩22.23T Q2 Sales; Hyundai Motor Q2 Revenue ₩48.29T, Net Income ₩3.00T Impacted by $602M Tariff Loss

South Korean companies reported mixed second-quarter 2025 earnings with SK Hynix delivering record sales of ₩22.23 trillion, surpassing estimates of ₩20.48 trillion, and an operating profit of ₩9.21 trillion, above the expected ₩8.93 trillion. Net income was slightly below expectations at ₩7.00 trillion versus ₩7.15 trillion estimated. The company projects low-to-mid single-digit quarter-on-quarter growth in DRAM bit shipments and limited increases in NAND bit growth for the third quarter. Hyundai Motor posted revenue of ₩48.29 trillion, beating the estimate of ₩46.73 trillion, and operating profit of ₩3.60 trillion, also exceeding the expected ₩3.5 trillion. However, net income declined 4.5% to ₩3.00 trillion, missing the estimate of ₩3.14 trillion, impacted by a 16% profit drop attributed to U.S. tariffs. Despite a 0.9% year-over-year increase in global retail sales, Hyundai’s U.S. retail sales rose by 10.3%, while sales in India, Europe, and China fell by 9.9%, 2.2%, and 29.6%, respectively. The company reported a $602 million operating loss due to higher U.S. tariffs in Q2 and warned that tariff impacts will intensify in the second half of the year. Other South Korean firms reported mixed results: LS Electric missed revenue and profit estimates with ₩1.19 trillion in revenue and ₩108.6 billion in operating profit, while Hyundai Glovis met revenue expectations at ₩7.52 trillion and exceeded operating profit and net income estimates. LG Display reported a net loss of ₩865.81 billion, far worse than the estimated loss of ₩245.41 billion. Samsung SDS posted slightly lower revenue and profit than expected. Seoul shares opened higher following SK Hynix’s record earnings report.