Memory chip prices drop

Bloomberg reported that Hynix's profit fell by 83% in the fourth quarter of last year due to the dual impact of falling memory chip prices and litigation compensation.

Hynix earned 111.0 billion won ($99 million) in the fourth quarter, which was a drop of 83% compared with 656.8 billion won in the same period of last year. This figure is also lower than the average forecast of 229 billion won by 8 analysts of Bloomberg.

The decline in the price of memory chips caused by falling demand is a major factor in Hynix's quarterly profit decline, but analysts said that due to PC makers’ demand for new models, as well as tablet and smart machines, chip prices may increase. It will start to pick up this quarter.

Hynix spokesman Park Seong Ae said that the 160.7 billion won they paid for Hyundai Securities because of the loss was also a reason for the decline in profit for the quarter.

In addition, Hynix’s revenue for the quarter was 2.75 trillion won and operating profit was 417.6 billion won.