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Hynix makes a profit!

DRAM prices carry on rising

Hynix Semiconductor, the debt-laden DRAM maker, made a profit in Q1 - the first time it's made a quarterly profit since Q3, 2000.

The Korean firm attributed the profit to rising DRAM prices and lower interest payments to its creditors.
It made a profit of 3bn won in Q1 on sales of 109bn won, compared with a loss of 1.37tn in Q4.

And it reckons to raise profitability in the second half of 2002, with memory prices maintaining its upward curve - "despites some short term corrections in the second quarter". Aggressive writedowns of R&D costs will also flow through to increased profits in the second half of the year.

The obvious question is: does Hynix need to go through with its proposed sale to Micron, if it is making a profit. The obvious answer is yes, but maybe the price just got a little higher. Hynix owes so much money to so many sources that, short of DRAM prices soaring to -say - 1995 levels, it cannot survive as an independent. The banks are restive: they want a Hynix to have a new sugar daddy. ®

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