Business Portfolio
SK Hynix is concentrating on the solid state drive (SSD) business to widen the scope of its current DRAM-focused business portfolio.
According to industry sources on Oct. 9, SK Hynix is said to be supplying corporate-oriented SSDs equipped with its own controller to two U.S. server companies. After successfully undergoing product testing by customer companies, the mass production of those SSDs reportedly started last June, earlier than expected.
Since the SSD business is progressing smoothly, the chip maker is planning to increase the weight of SSD sales to more than 10 percent of NAND Flash business sales by the end of this year.
Currently, DRAM accounts for around 80 percent of SK Hynix's total sales, and NAND Flash makes up about 20 percent of the total. Hence, a decrease in DRAM prices will inevitably deal a serious blow to the company.
An industry source said, “The SSD business is expected to be a top contributor in the future growth of NAND Flash.” The source added, “I think that SK Hynix is concentrating its capabilities on the SSD and NAND Flash businesses to diversify its profit structure in case of a drop in DRAM prices.”