By Kwanwoo Jun

SK Hynix Inc. said Tuesday it expects demand for memory chips to remain strong in the second half of this year.

The world's second largest memory-chip maker reported that its second-quarter net profit rose 57% from a year earlier to 1.988 trillion won ($1.72 billion), above the consensus expectation of analysts, on solid chip demand.

Sales of memory chips used in personal computers and other consumer electronics devices surged during the quarter, while those for data servers recovered, the South Korean company said in a statement.

Going into the second half of 2021, SK Hynix expects demand for NAND flash memory products to increase as more mobile devices adopt high-capacity data storage systems that need more chips.

Demand for solid-state drives will also likely grow, it said.

SK Hynix said it seeks to make its NAND flash memory chip unit profitable in the third quarter while boosting its output of DRAM chips by using the extreme-ultraviolet, or EUV, equipment.

The company in February signed a five-year deal worth KRW4.755 trillion to buy the EUV equipment for making next-generation chips from Dutch semiconductor-equipment maker ASML Holding N.V.

Higher memory-chip prices on tight supply of DRAM chips and a faster-than-expected recovery in NAND chips led to SK Hynix's strong earnings results in the first half of 2021.

Revenue rose 20% from a year earlier to KRW10.322 trillion for the second quarter--also beating market consensus--while operating profit jumped 38% on-year to KRW2.695 trillion.

Shares of SK Hynix rose 0.9% to KRW118,000.

Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-26-21 2153ET