Huawei, China's largest telecommunications equipment company, is becoming more of a "double-edged sword" to Samsung Electronics. Huawei is one of Samsung's top five customers, but competition between the two companies is heating up in 5G communication equipment, smartphones, and mobile appli
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will prune investment next year in preparation for a slowdown in the semiconductor market. The two Korean chipmakers believe that an increase in chip demand due to the spread of 5G smartphones will not be enough to offset a decline in demand due to Intel's delay
Korea’s semiconductor output and export volume in the first 10 months of the year surpassed that of last year when Korean chipmakers enjoyed the biggest-ever boom. This is quite different from what semiconductor industry watchers predicted earlier this year –- the Korean semiconductor industry will
SK Hynix announced on Oct. 21 that it will mass-produce 16-gigabit (GB) DDR4 DRAMs using a third-generation 10-nanometer process beginning next year.The company said it has succeeded in developing a 16 Gb DDR4 DRAM on the third-generation 10-nm (1z nm) production process.The new chip has a 27 percen
Samsung Electronics is in quandary over when to start the operation of semiconductor plants under construction at Xian, Shaanxi Province in China and at Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province in Korea and which semiconductor items to produce in these new plants. If memory chips are additionally produced in t
Tsinghua Unigroup of China recently announced that it would invest 800 billion yuan for the upcoming 10 years in order to accelerate mass production of DRAM chips. The company is going to build an R&D center in Wuhan and manufacturing facilities in Chongqing before mass production initiation schedul
Global semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron are trying to overcome a sharp drop in chip demand and prices with innovative technologies.U.S. chipmaker Micron announced on Aug. 16 that it has developed the industry's first 16 Gb mobile DRAM LPDDR4X. This produc
Samsung Electronics announced on Aug. 6 that it has begun mass-producing 250-gigabyte (GB) SATA solid state drive (SSD) that integrates the company’s 6th-generation (1xx-layer) 256-gigabit (Gb) three-bit V-NAND. The company has delivered the SSDs to a global PC manufacturer.The new SSD is based on t
Samsung Electronics Co. has suggested that it may partially adjust its output of memory semiconductors such as DRAM and NAND flash. Previously, the company made it clear that it would not artificially cut production. The company is expected to convert some memory production lines to non-memory ones,
DRAM prices have plummeted by two digits once again, dropping to the level three years ago. Instead, NAND flash prices rebounded for the first time in two years, kindling a hope for earnings growth of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.Contract prices of DDR4 8 Gb DRAMs mainly used in PCs fell 11.2 pe
Samsung Electronics has made it clear that it would not cut production of memory semiconductors such as DRAMs. In addition, the global semiconductor giant said it is difficult to assess the impact of Japan's export curbs on its semiconductor business, pledging it would minimize damage through va
Samsung Electronics will begin volume production of the industry’s first 12 Gb mobile DRAMs, which offer the highest speed and largest capacity ever achieved, late this month. The newly developed product is expected to go into the Galaxy S11, the company’s flagship smartphone to be launched early ne
The Japanese government's action to regulate semiconductor material exports to Korea will not affect semiconductor production by Korean chipmakers, NH Investment & Securities said on July 3."We have found out that the Japanese government’s restrictions on resists were limited to EUV resists,” sa
SK Hynix announced on June 26 that it is ready for volume production of the world's first 128-layer one-terabyte (TB) 4D NAND flashes based on triple level cell (TLC) arrays.The Korean chipmaker achieved the milestone in just eight months since it announced the world’s first 96-layer 512 Gb (gig
China’s Huawei Technologies opened its first 5G open lab in Seoul on May 30 amid mounting anti-Huawei pressures from the U.S. government. Huawei plans to invest about US$5 million in the lab, using it as a base for its expansion into the 5G market in Asia.Huawei held an opening ceremony for the lab
The expanded fab (Plant 2) of SK Hynix factory in Wuxi, China will go into full operation this month. Once the 950-billion-won expansion project is completed, the plant’s production capacity will increase to 180,000 wafers per month. However, SK Hynix said that it expanded its production lines simpl
Micron Technology will cut its monthly memory production by 5 percent, industry sources said on March 21. The U.S. semiconductor company said it had idled some factory lines to bring its chip output in line with lower demand. Micron's decision is expected to benefit Samsung Electronics and SK Hy
China’s scheme to foster its semiconductor industry has been going awry. The Chinese semiconductor industry is having trouble reaching its goals in both the memory sector, which is dominated by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix of Korea, and the non-memory sector where the United States has begun to
Samsung Electronics has launched the world's most powerful 12 GB mobile DRAM targeting foldable phones, including the Galaxy Fold.Samsung Electronics announced on March 14 that it would begin mass production of 12 GB low-power DDR (LPDDR) 4x mobile DRAMs, whose capacity is the largest ever. The
SK Hynix has submitted a letter of intent to Yongin City, Gyeonggi Province, disclosing its intention to create a semiconductor cluster by investing 120 trillion won (US$106.5 billion).The letter, which was sent to the city government on Feb. 21, demonstrated the company’s intention not be swayed by