Hynix Q1 net loss widens on lower prices

SEOUL, April 24 (Yonhap) -- Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the world's second-largest computer memory chipmaker, said Friday that its net loss widened in the first quarter as the global recession drove down prices.

Net losses reached 1.19 trillion won (US$891 million) in the January-March
period, compared with a loss of 674 billion won a year earlier, the company said
in a regulatory filing. Hynix reported a sixth-straight quarterly loss.
Sales fell 24 percent to 1.19 trillion won over the cited period, with operating
loss also increasing to 652 billion won from 505 billion won.
Shares of Hynix Semiconductor were trading at 16,250 won on the Seoul bourse as
of 9:27 a.m., up 2.21 percent.
The memory chip market, plagued in recent years by falling prices and weak
demand, is seeing signs of hope in improved spot prices for dynamic random access
memory (DRAM) chips and the prospect that the weakest players could soon exit the
market.
"Output could further decline... but rising chip prices will help Hynix report a
better-than-expected result in the second quarter," said Lee Ka-keun, an analyst
at IBK Investment & Securities.
Hynix said the average price of its DRAM chips fell about 7 percent in the first
quarter compared with three months earlier. But the average price of its NAND
flash memory chips increased 10 percent during the cited period, the company
said.
On Wednesday, its creditors decided to inject 1.3 trillion won into Hynix,
including 700 billion won via a rights offering, to help it weather slumping
demand and prices.
The move follows an injection of 800 billion won in December, when creditors also
agreed to roll over the company's maturing debt to the end of 2009.
The company turned its operations around but is now suffering a liquidity
shortage due to falling demand and declining chip prices amid the global economic
downturn.
sam@yna.co.kr
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