SK Hynix swings to Q4 profit on strong AI chip demand

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's SK Hynix on Thursday posted its first quarterly profit in a year on robust demand for high-end chips used in artificial intelligence and restocking orders from Chinese mobile clients.

The world's second-biggest memory chipmaker reported a 346 billion won ($259.77 million) operating profit for the October-December quarter versus a loss of 1.9 trillion won a year earlier and a 1.8 trillion won loss in the third quarter.

The results compared with expectations for a 192 billion won operating loss, according to 23 analysts' views compiled by LSEG SmartEstimate, weighted toward analysts who are more consistently accurate.

($1 = 1,331.9400 won)

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Leslie Adler)