SK Hynix posted a three-point-four trillion-won loss in the first quarter of the year to log its worst performance since being taken over by SK Group in 2012.

According to the company's regulatory filing on Wednesday, operating losses in the first quarter plummeted from a profit of two-point-nine trillion won a year earlier amid prolonged stagnation in the memory chip sector.

The figure follows an operating loss of one-point-seven trillion won in the fourth quarter of last year, SK Hynix’s first three-month period in the red in a decade.

The world's second-largest memory chip maker recorded five-point-09 trillion won in sales, down 58 percent on-year, while net losses for the January-to-March period stood at two-point-six trillion won compared to a profit of one-point-98 trillion won a year ago.

The company has attributed the latest data to the protracted memory chip downturn through the first quarter, which led to sluggish demand and falling product prices, but forecast market improvements in the second quarter after bottoming out in the first three-month period.