Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world’s second-largest maker of computer-memory chips, said the industry may recover in the second half as production cutbacks by manufacturers help ease a glut.
“With all the adjustments in supply, I cautiously predict that the fourth quarter could’ve been the bottom,” chief executive officer Kim Jong-kap told reporters in Seoul yesterday.
“We hope the situation will get better towards the second half,” Kim said, declining to comment on whether the company may post a profit this year.
The Ichon, South Korea-based chipmaker said last month it plans to cut production by 20 percent to 30 percent at the end of the month, joining Japan’s Toshiba Corp, Micron Technology Inc and Taiwanese chipmakers in reducing output as the global recession worsened an oversupply of semiconductors.
Chip prices may increase in the second half because of changes in supply, Kim Ji-bum, senior vice president at Hynix, said yesterday. Capital spending by computer-memory chipmakers worldwide will probably decline by as much as 50 percent this year, according to Taipei-based Dramexchange Technology Inc (集邦科技), operator of Asia’s biggest spot market for chips.
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