Earlier in the day, Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chipmaker, estimated its fourth-quarter operating income at 7.1 trillion won, down 34.26 percent from a year earlier. But the figure was well above the median market estimate of 6.5 trillion won.

The market estimate-beating earnings guidance came on the back of a slight recovery in chip prices and better-than-expected market response for its smartphones.

Contract prices for 8-gigabyte DRAM server modules, mostly used for PCs, held steady for the last three months of 2019, according to market tracker DRAMeXchange. NAND flash contract market prices posted a 10 percent on-year increase in December, according to the tracker.

Growing demand for memory chips has been long-awaited for SK hynix, whose business centers around chipmaking, unlike Samsung, whose business portfolio ranges from chipmaking to home appliances.

In the July-September period, SK hynix's net profit plunged 89 percent to 495.5 billion won from a year ago.

Its third-quarter sales plunged 40 percent on-year to 6.8 trillion won, and operating profit plummeted 93 percent to 472.6 billion won, the lowest since the second quarter of 2016. (Yonhap)