Korean chip makers eye a rebound
A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc.
Story posted 9 a.m. EST/6 a.m., PST, 2/22/99
semibiznews.com
By Jack Robertson
SEOUL -- South Korean chip makers are projected to increase sales nearly 9% to $8.5 billion, according to a report released today at the SEMI Semicon Korea exhibition in Seoul.
Chi-Luck Kim, president of the Korean Semiconductor Industry Association, said firmer prices in DRAMs will help the country's three memory producers to increase revenues after four years of decline due to the collapse of the global market.
Memory chips account for the overwhelming portion of sales--as much as 84% last year. Kim said he expected rising DRAM prices will cause the memory chip ratio to remain about the same this year. He said the Korean industry goal is to increase non-memory chip sales to reach a 30% share of total semiconductor revenues by 2002.
Korean OEM customers will account for a slightly larger share of semiconductor sales in 1999, accounting for a 12% share in a higher market, compared to 10% last year. Korean chip makers are expected to double their purchases of production equipment this year to $2.6 billion from $1.35 billion in 1998, Kim said. He said the bulk of the new gear would be to upgrade existing fabs, as chip makers aren't expected to launch any new plants this year. Samsung Electronics Corp. is completing a second-stage expansion of its Austin, Tex., fab that had been underway since last year.
Asked if the projected acquisition of LG Semicon Co. by Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. might change the $2.6 billion equipment forecast this year, Kim said it was too early to tell. "Both companies have said final plans on equipment purchases for the combined chip operation will be made only after the merger is completed," he added.
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