Hynix Will Idle Some Workers At South Korean Factory
An Asian Wall Street Journal Roundup
SEOUL -- Hynix Semiconductor Inc. said it placed some of its workers at its
main South Korean factory on mandatory leave from today through Saturday, in a
move to cut semiconductor output amid a global industry slowdown.
Hynix declined to say how many workers will be placed on leave. But operations
at three out of its five production lines at the Ichon factory will be
suspended during the period, said the world's third-largest semiconductor
maker.
The three suspended production lines produce 16-megabit dynamic random access
memory, or DRAM, chips, S-RAM and flash-memory chips, Hynix said. But the
factory's remaining production lines will continue to produce Hynix's main
products - 64-megabit, 128-megabit and 256-megabit DRAM chips.
Hynix played down the suspension, saying it will cut less than 1% of Hynix's
monthly semiconductor output. Hynix said it won't ask its workers at its other
two Korean factories to go on mandatory leave this summer.
This month, Hynix suspended its U.S. production base in Eugene, Oregon, for
six months in order to slash DRAM output by 16%. The production halt
"temporarily" laid off 600 employees in Eugene. Hynix, formerly known as
Hyundai Electronics Industries, is suffering from massive debt, falling chip
prices and a global supply glut.
The company has to pay about 1.4 trillion won ($1.08 billion) of its debt
during the second half of this year, and is seeking nearly $1 billion in
refinancing.
Separately Friday, Korea First Bank said it would be willing to consider more
loans for Hynix if the chip maker were to put in a request. Hynix has yet to
ask for more loans from Korea First Bank, which is owned by U.S. investment
fund Newbridge Capital. The bank already has lent the company about 270 billio |
