[THE INVESTOR] South Korean chipmaker SK hynix said in a preliminary filing on Oct. 25 that it posted 726 billion won (US$639.60 million) operating profit in the July-September period, down 47. 5 percent from a year earlier. Its revenue stood at 4.23 trillion won, down 13.8 percent on-year.

The drop in profits from the same period last year is mainly due to the declining price of DRAM and fierce competition in the memory chip sector.

However, the third-quarter operating profit, which beats a previous market estimate of around 670 billion won, increased 60.3 percent from the previous quarter’s 452.9 billion won. It was the first time in 13 quarters for the chip company to see its operating profit drop below 500 billion won. 



The better-than-expected operating profit in the third quarter is attributable to the price rebound of DRAM since July this year.

The price of DRAM came in at US$1.38 in late August, up 2.99 percent from a month earlier.

In July, the DRAM saw a 7.2-percent price increase.

Strong demand for NAND flash memory chip and solid-state drive storage systems also helped the firm’s operating profit recover from the second quarter.

“The shipment volume of DRAM improved in the third quarter thanks to the increased demand for DRAM in the PC sector and more adoption of high capacity DRAM chips for mobile devices” said Kim Jun-jo, a president of SK hynix’s management support division.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)