Chipmaker moves  to strengthen its  competitiveness in NAND Flash projects


SK Hynix announced Tuesday that it established a research and development center in Italy by acquiring Italian NAND Flash developer Ideaflash for next-generation memory chips.

The company also said it appointed Carla Golla, the former chief executive of Ideaflash, as the CEO of the new center called “SK Hynix Italy S.r.l” and held the opening ceremony on Monday.

Idealflash, a firm composed of 50 R&D experts with at least 12 years of experience, has been concentrating on the development of various Flash memory devices. NAND Flash chips are widely used in wireless devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs.

“The Italy R&D Center will closely cooperate with the headquarters in Korea and be operated as a core of NAND Flash development activities, said Hynix chief executive Kwon Oh-chul. “SK Hynix will further strengthen global R&D competence with outstanding experts.”

The move comes at a time when Hynix is working to strengthen its competence in NAND Flash memory with Kwon announcing earlier that the firm plans to use half of this year’s investment ― a total of 4.2 trillion won ($3.59 billion) ― for the first time ever.

Kwon also indicated that it may make NAND Flash memory chips at its plant in Wuxi, China, although the plan has yet to be finalized.

The company reached a 12 percent market share in NAND Flash in 2011.

With the company establishing a R&D center in Italy, it has now secured global R&D bases in four main areas, which include the U.S., Europe, Japan and Taiwan, its officials said.

“A quick response to the market is crucial since various solutions in diverse mobile and smart applications have been released in the NAND Flash industry recently,” company officials said. “The firm will respond to demands in Europe and reinforce abilities in NAND Flash development.”

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)