[Graphic News] Profits of Samsung, SK hynix fall on weak chip demand

Korean chipmakers, hit hard by falling prices and stiffer competition, are struggling to restore profits from their dynamic random access memory chip sales.

According to the data compiled by industry tracker DRAMeXchange, Samsung Electronics, the nation’s largest chipmaker, logged $3.97 billion in its first quarter sales, down 16.6 percent from the previous quarter.

Sales of SK hynix also fell 19.2 percent to $2.32 billion during the same period.

Samsung’s market share remained flat at 46.6 percent, while the figure for SK hynix decreased 0.8 percent to 27.9 percent. U.S.-based Micron Technology came in third with an 18.5 percent share.

Other smaller Taiwanese players, such as Nanya Technology with 3.9 percent and Winbond Electronics with 1.8 percent, increased their combined market share slightly in the first quarter.

“While there was some demand from smartphone inventory restocking in China, the first quarter is traditionally a slow period, and downward revisions on notebooks and iPhone shipment estimates further exacerbated the oversupply problem in the DRAM market,” the tracker said.

It said in terms of first-quarter operating margins, Samsung and SK hynix fared relatively well, coming in at 40 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

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