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Memory (from 17)
was born.In the company’s Q322 earnings
guidance, Samsung Electronics forecast
its earnings would be 75-77 trillion won
($52.83-$54.20 billion) with an operat-
ing profit in the area of 10.7 trillion won
($7.64 billion). This will represent a slight
decline in 2Q22 earnings which were 77.2
trillion won.
Fortune Global 500
In the latest Fortune Global 500 (August-
September 2022), Samsung Electronics
ranked number 18 in 2021 with revenue of
$244,32 billion compared to Intel at num-
ber 145 with a revenue of $79.02 billion.
In its listing of the largest semiconductor
companies in 2021, IC Insights placed the
DRAM triumvirate chip makers at the top,
led by Samsung, followed by SK hynix,
with Micron Technology next. Intel was
wedged into second place overall.
While IC Insights placed TSMC third, the
company works for many chip makers, and
makes no branded semiconductors.
Internal consumption
Although Samsung is likely to feel the
memory slump like its competitors, its
consumption of memory for its smart-
phones and other products may substan-
tially ease the pain.
The second largest memory provider in the
world, is SK hynix. (The SK group uses the
lowercast “h” for hynix).
If anything were to happen to Samsung
and SK hynix, both Korean and both pro-
viding massive numbes to the country’s
GDP, it would place the South Korean
economy in great peril.
NOVEMBER 2022
Hynix, like its semiconductor brethern, has
also become expansion-minded over the
past few years.
Intel sells China-based plant
On Oct. 19, 2020 Intel announced it had
sold its Dalian, China facility to SK hynix
for $7 billion. This plant produces NAND
and solid-state flash drives. It will operate
under its new name, Solidigm, as a hynix
subsidiary.
Was intel prescient in its sale of the Dalian
facility? It may prove to be so, considering
the new problems chip makers are likely to
have under President Biden’s tough new
export rules.
Hynix was founded in 1949 as Gukdo Con-
struction Co. In 1983 it was renamed
Hyundai Electronics Industries. Two years
later it began mass production of 256K
DRAM chips under a licensing agreement
with Vitelic, a U.S.-based company, ac-
cording to Wikipedia.
Going public
Subsequently, the company took over
Maxtor, a large solid-state drive manufac-
turer in the U.S. in 1993. Hynix became
a public company in 1996, when it began
trading on the Korean Stock Exchange.
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This is SK hynix’ newest fab, M16 in Incheon, Korea. It began
manufacturing DRAM last year. (SK hynix)