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Samsung Elec, Hynix to raise contract chip prices
Seoul, Apr 15: South Korean chip makers Samsung Electronics Company and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. said on Tuesday they were negotiating to raise contract prices for memory chips.
Seoul, Apr 15: South Korean chip makers Samsung Electronics Company and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. said on Tuesday they were negotiating to raise contract prices for memory chips.
"Chip prices started rebounding this month and we are in the process of raising prices to reflect the trend into our long-term contract," a Samsung spokesman said.
He declined to give details over the percentage increase but the Maeil Business Newspaper said Samsung and Hynix were seeking to raise prices of 256 megabit double-data-rate (DDR) dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips by some 10 per cent.
Hynix said it had raised contract DRAM chip prices in early April and was talking to clients to raise them further.
Chip prices have maintained an upward trend for the past two weeks, although prices are still down more than 50 per cent from a recent peak of around $8 in November.
Analysts expect the rise may be short-lived, because the rise was partly driven by temporary supply problems prompted by chip makers' product portfolio reshuffle while demand remains sluggish.
Samsung, the world's biggest memory-chip maker, may report some 30 per cent drop in the first-quarter net profit on Friday, hurt by weak memory chip prices, analysts said. Shares of Samsung, Korea's most valuable company, with a market value of some $35 billion, rose 2.1 per cent to 291,500 won in early trading. Hynix shot up 15 per cent to 3,500 won. Bureau Report
He declined to give details over the percentage increase but the Maeil Business Newspaper said Samsung and Hynix were seeking to raise prices of 256 megabit double-data-rate (DDR) dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips by some 10 per cent.
Hynix said it had raised contract DRAM chip prices in early April and was talking to clients to raise them further.
Chip prices have maintained an upward trend for the past two weeks, although prices are still down more than 50 per cent from a recent peak of around $8 in November.
Analysts expect the rise may be short-lived, because the rise was partly driven by temporary supply problems prompted by chip makers' product portfolio reshuffle while demand remains sluggish.
Samsung, the world's biggest memory-chip maker, may report some 30 per cent drop in the first-quarter net profit on Friday, hurt by weak memory chip prices, analysts said. Shares of Samsung, Korea's most valuable company, with a market value of some $35 billion, rose 2.1 per cent to 291,500 won in early trading. Hynix shot up 15 per cent to 3,500 won. Bureau Report