Seoul, Aug 15 (IANS): Major companies in South Korea saw their second-quarter operating income more than double from a year earlier, driven by strong performances in the semiconductor sector, a corporate tracker said on Thursday.

The combined net profits of the 334 companies out of South Korea's top 500 companies by sales reached 59.4 trillion won ($43.6 billion) for the April-June period, up 107.1 per cent from 28.7 trillion won a year ago, according to CEO Score.

Their total sales increased 7 per cent on-year to 779.5 trillion won from 728.6 trillion won over the cited period, reports Yonhap news agency. The corporations cover those that have disclosed their quarterly financial statements for the first quarter as of Wednesday.

The country's two leading chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix led the overall increase for the second quarter on rising demand for AI semiconductors, such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) from U.S. tech giants like Nvidia Corp.

Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chipmaker, posted 10.4 trillion won in operating profit for the three-month period ending June, soaring from 668.5 billion won a year earlier.

This solidified its position as the company with the highest quarterly operating profit in South Korea.

SK hynix's operating profit amounted to 5.5 trillion won for the second quarter, turning from an operating loss of 2.9 trillion won a year earlier.

As a result, SK hynix moved into second place in terms of operating profit, surpassing automotive giants Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., which reported operating profits of 4.3 trillion won and 3.6 trillion won, respectively.

On the other hand, SK On, a battery manufacturing unit under SK Group, marked the biggest operating loss of 460.2 billion won during the period amid declining global demand for electric vehicles.

The chemical sector also faced difficulties, with Lotte Chemical Co. and Hanwha Solutions Corp. recording operating losses of 111.2 billion won and 107.8 billion won, respectively.