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Semiconductors ‘out of bottom’: Samsung

A visitor looks at a Samsung Electronics Co moviNAND product at the company’s mobile solutions forum in Taipei yesterday. A senior Samsung executive said the global industry has bottomed out after a three-year slump. PHOTO: MAURICE TSAI, BLOOMBERG

Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s biggest computer memory chipmaker, is increasing its output through technological upgrades and improving efficiency, a senior company executive said yesterday in Taipei, now that the semiconductor industry has bottomed out.

The recovery in the computer memory chip, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), sector reflects the improvement of the overall semiconductor industry, which Samsung said, “is out of the bottom” after a three-year slump.

Helped by consumption stimulus packages launched by governments around the world, “we are seeing demand for DDR3 chips is increasing at a faster pace,” Kwon Oh-hyun, president of Samsung’s semiconductor division, told a media briefing in Taipei after making a speech to the annual Samsung Mobile Solutions Forum.

Samsung is boosting capacity by making more chips on advanced technologies, Kwon said.

“We expect supply constraint to be solved in the short term,” he said.

The price for new-generation DDR3 edged down by 0.37 percent to US$2.1 per unit at 6pm yesterday, while the spot price for mainstream DDR2 chips retreated from an earlier gain to US$1.79 per unit, which hasn’t been seen in about two years because of tight supplies, a tally of Taipei-based market researcher DRAMeXchange Technology Inc (集邦科技) showed.

Declining to give his forecast for DRAM price trend, Kwon only said: “We hope to keep the price stable.”

DRAM prices have recently rebounded to a more reasonable level from an extremely unacceptable level in the first half of the year, he said.

The semiconductor industry overall was recovering faster than expected, Kwon said.

The recovery was mostly driven by inventory buildup demand from computer makers, who have traditionally been conservative about end-demand, he said.

The industry was coming to a turning point, he said. Sales during the traditional Thanksgiving holiday shopping season in the US would be a crucial indicator to whether there would be a recovery or a double dip, he said.

Kwon declined to comment on whether the Seoul-based chipmaker was in talks about a merger with smaller rival Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world’s second-biggest memory chipmaker.

He also had no comment on whether the newly formed Taiwan Memory Co (台灣創新記憶體公司) would escalate competition after it combined the capacity of existing Taiwanese DRAM makers.

HYNIX

Meanwhile, a minor South Korean conglomerate looks set to buy a major stake in Hynix after it was the only firm to submit a bid, a report said yesterday.

Hyosung Corp, a small group with interests ranging from chemicals to heavy machinery, submitted an offer to acquire the stake in Hynix from creditors, Yonhap news agency said.

Hyosung has refused to confirm the report but Korea Exchange Bank, a key creditor, said it has received a bid from only one firm.

“There will be a related announcement soon,” a spokesman for Hyosung said.

Creditors have controlled Hynix since they rescued it with US$4.6 billion dollars in 2001 and 2002.

They now plan to sell a 28 percent stake worth 3.65 trillion won (US$3.04 billion), Yonhap said.

Hynix turned its operations around but has suffered from a liquidity shortage due to falling demand and declining chip prices.

Hynix swung to a net loss of 4.38 trillion won last year from a profit of 364 billion won in 2007, the first yearly net loss in five years.
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