SK hynix’s tax payment soars 42-fold amid HBM boom

SK hynix’s tax payment soars 42-fold amid HBM boom

최초입력 2025.07.01 13:57:49

(SK hynix)

South Korean memory chipmaker SK hynix Inc. saw its tax payment surged a staggering 42-fold in 2024 compared to the previous year on the back of its record-breaking performance.
According to the company’s “Sustainability Report” disclosed on Friday, its total “indirect economic contribution” - a metric measuring the value indirectly contributed to the economy via business activities - totaled 11.99 trillion won ($8.87 billion) in 2024, a 142 percent increase from 4.96 trillion won a year earlier.
When breaking this down by category, the “employment” category, which includes labor costs, rose 74 percent to 6.91 trillion won in 2024 from the previous year’s 3.97 trillion won. The “dividends” paid to shareholders increased 68 percent to 1.53 trillion won from 906 billion won while the annual tax payment jumped from 85.1 billion won in 2023 to 3.55 trillion won in 2024, increasing approximately 41.7 times.
The sharp rise in SK hynix’s contribution to the national economy is largely due to its record-high earnings in 2024, as the company’s high-bandwidth memory (HBM) semiconductor technology gained global recognition.
SK hynix posted revenue of 66.19 trillion won and operating profit of 23.47 trillion won in 2024.
“Our tax payments surged as we turned around from a loss in 2023 to a record-high profit in 2024,” an SK hynix official said. “We are committed to maximizing our stakeholders’ happiness and earning public trust by delivering not just economic value through sales and operating profits, but greater social value via employment, dividends, and taxes as well.”
In contrast, corporate tax payments by Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. either remained unchanged or declined during the same period.
Samsung Electronics disclosed in its 2024 Sustainability Report that it paid 8.2 trillion won in taxes and public dues in both 2023 and 2024, down from 13 trillion won in 2022. This reflects the company’s weaker performance due to a downturn in the semiconductor market and a sluggish home appliance sector.
Hyundai Motor also reported in its 2024 Sustainability Report that its corporate tax payments fell to 4.23 trillion won in 2024 from 4.62 trillion won a year ago, an 8.5 percent decrease. The company saw a slight decline in performance during the same period after recording its largest-ever operating profit in 2023.
LG Electronics Inc. also reported a decline in “cash taxes paid,” which dropped from 1.01 trillion won in 2023 to 980 billion won in 2024 according to its sustainability report.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor recorded their highest-ever “economic contribution” in 2024. This metric represents the total economic value generated by a company’s operations, including tax payments, payments to suppliers, dividends to investors, employee compensation, and social contribution spending, which is commonly referred to as the “trickle-down effect.”
Samsung Electronics stated in its report that its “economic value distribution” totaled 285.8 trillion won in 2024, a 5.8 percent increase from the previous year‘s 270.1 trillion won.
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SK hynix’s tax payment soars 42-fold amid HBM boom

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