3 Chip Makers Give Collective Leave
08/07(ñY) 17:47
Three Korean semiconductor makers have joined the movement to reduce production, giving a collective summer leave to their workers on chip production lines.
LG Semicon has decided to temporarily shut down production at its plants in Chongju, Chungchong-pukto, and Kumi, Kyongsang-pukto.
Samsung Electronics will cut chip production for a week from Aug. 16, giving its third collective leave, and Hyundai Electronics Industries plans to suspend production lines for a week this month in similar manner, according to the companies.
Samsung has already given collective leaves on two occasions, from June 14-20 and from July 19-25, and Hyundai also did so on two occasions, from June 4-9 and from July 16-23, to shore up chip prices by cutting production.
An LG Semicon official said, ''This collective leave will cut the production of semiconductors by some 20 percent.''
Samsung announced earlier that the company was determined to further reduce production further through collective leaves, if necessary.
A Hyundai official said, ''The concrete schedule on the third collective leave has yet to be decided on. But we are determined to stop the lines for a week this month, by giving a collective summer leave.''
The three Korean semiconductor makers and foreign makers have been suffering from massive production surpluses.
But prices have been rising recently, depending on the item, with surplus stocks of 64M DRAMs having been drained out as a result of production cuts by the three Korean semiconductor makers, as well as Japanese makers such as NEC Corp. and Toshiba, a Samsung official said.
The price of the 8Mx8 synchronous product, the leading item among 64M DRAMs, rose from $7.66-8.29 a unit on July 10 to $8.34-9.28 on July 30 and even further to $8.67-9.38 on Aug. 5.
An LG official said, ''The price rise of semiconductors in the low-demand summer season has been on the rise, apparently because of the widespread disposal of stockpiles. Market prospects are bright from the end of this month through the end of November thanks to the high demand Christmas season.''
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