SK Hynix Inc, a supplier of memory chips to Apple Inc, posted third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates, as increased demand and reduced inventories fed a rally in semiconductor prices.
Operating income was 726 billion won (US$642 million) in the three months ended September, the Icheon, South Korea-based company said yesterday. That compares with the 660.4 billion won average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
While SK Hynix is tapping into rising demand for memory in mobile devices and PCs, it is being helped by buoyant prices as manufacturers limit production increases. Apple, Hynix’s biggest customer, released new iPhones last month and Chinese vendors are adding premium components to stimulate sales.
“Temporary peak in demand isn’t really important. The important thing is how slowly and gradually the supply goes up,” Daishin Securities Co analyst Kim Kyung-min said. “I think next year’s outlook is also pretty good.”
The company’s shares rose 2.2 percent to 41,050 won in Seoul, extending this year’s advance to 33.5 percent. The stock slid 36 percent last year.
Apple provides about 8 percent of Hynix sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Prices of benchmark DDR3 4Gb DRAM chips rose to US$2.01 as of Sept. 30 compared with US$1.73 a quarter earlier, according to InSpectrum Tech Inc.
The flash NAND market will sustain a positive trend, company said.
Hynix posted net income of 596.8 billion won, beating estimates of 498.1 billion won.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains. The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday. The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island. The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence