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피터빈트

SK hynix Q4 profits plunge on weak demand

By Korea Herald

Published : Jan. 26, 2016 - 11:18

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South Korean chipmaker SK hynix said Tuesday despite record sales of 18.7 trillion won ($16 billion) last year, its fourth-quarter operating profits plunged by 40.7 percent.

The company’s annual sales saw an on-year growth of 10 percent -- the third straight year of record sales -- however, it was hit hard by weakening chip demands globally in the October-December period and operating profits fell to 988.8 billion won.

SK hynix’s main factory in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province SK hynix’s main factory in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province

Sales stood at 4.4 trillion won in the quarter, down 14.2 percent from a year ago.

The company said that there were no immediate signs of recovery in the slowing demands for its flagship dynamic random access memory chips, citing seasonal downturn in PC sales.

Coupled with lukewarm smartphone sales, its DRAM chip shipments dropped 1 percent in the quarter, the company said.

“Weak demand would continue in the first quarter. But we expect the demand for higher capacity mobile DRAMS to continue to grow together with new high-end smartphone launches,” said SK hynix president Kim Joon-ho in a conference call.

He predicted about 20 percent growth in DRAM demand this year.

SK hynix recently announced it will invest 6 trillion won this year, especially into the 3D NAND chips that greatly improve memory production efficiency, density and data storage capacity overall.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)

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