The Korea Herald

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SK Hynix monitoring fire damage in China

By Korea Herald

Published : Sept. 5, 2013 - 20:28

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SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest memory-chipmaker, on Thursday said it expects little to no disruption to its chip supply after a fire that occurred in its Wuxi plant in China, as the equipment was not damaged.

“There is no material damage to the (semiconductor) fabrication equipment in the clean room, which is why we expect to resume operations in the near future so that production and supply volume will not be affected,” SK Hynix said in a statement.

The company was still investigating the exact cause of the sudden blaze.

SK Hynix also requested the media and netizens to refrain from using a photo of a fire that broke out in Romania in 2010 that was mistaken as a shot of the Wuxi plant fire.

SK Hynix currently produces dynamic random access memory chips for mobile devices and computers, and is currently the No. 2 supplier of the chip next to Samsung Electronics.

Wuxi is the site of SK Hynix’s 29-nanometer DRAM production line. The plant’s supplies account for almost half of the firm’s DRAM production capability, according to industry figures.

The tech company’s stocks slipped on the news, dipping more than 1 percent to close at 28,150 won. Analysts said the stock would likely suffer for a while, with market saturation for smart devices being another reason fueling the sluggish growth.

They added, however, that this may be the time for investors to take advantage of the low prices.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)