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To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (52721)	6/29/2001 1:30:51 PM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 53903

DRAM Market Slowdown to Turn Around in Second Half The slowdown in the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) market is expected to turn around in the second half of this year, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy reported yesterday. MOCIE officials said in a report that the export of DRAMs was among the lowest in recent years in the first half, falling from $11.9 billion in the first six months of last year to a projected $8.7 billion. ``The slowdown in the export of semiconductors in general is due to the recession in the global information technology industry which has also been dragging down prices,'' one ministry official said. He said outbound shipments of semiconductors, most of which are DRAMs, in June is estimated at $1.28 billion, the first month since the end of last year that the monthly figure has not fallen below that of the previous month. The local semiconductor market has taken a beating with monthly shipments plummeting from $1,795 million in January and $1,558 million in February to $1,525 million in March and $1,275 million in April, contributing to worsening export performance this year. ``Obviously, the reduction in exports is a direct result of spiraling prices with 128 megabit DRAMs trading at $2.12, down dramatically from the average of $13.46 in the first half of last year,'' the MOCIE official said. He said one positive development in the DRAM industry is that chipmakers are cutting back on facility investments and this should have a strong impact on production. ``Most companies are looking to reduce their investment in new facilities, choosing instead to upgrade existing processing lines in preparation for the cross over from 64M to 128M units,'' the ministry official explained. For example, he said Samsung is cutting planned investments of 5 trillion won this year to 4 trillion won, and Hynix Semiconductor is freezing plans for new lines altogether. The resulting increase in prices, hopefully, will help the semiconductor market regain some of its strength in exports in which its proportion reached 5.7 percent last year. koreatimes.co.kr 2001/06/29 16:53