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☆ LG Display posts 4th straight quarterly loss on weak gadget demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SEOUL, April 26 (Reuters) - South Korean display panel maker LG Display (034220.KS) on Wednesday posted its fourth straight quarterly loss, trailing estimates, as global demand for devices like computers and monitors remained depressed amid an uncertain economic climate. LG Display, an Apple Inc (AAPL.O) supplier, posted a 1.1 trillion won ($822.59 million) operating loss for the January-March quarter, versus a profit of 38 billion won a year earlier. The result missed a forecast of a 660 billion won loss from 18 analysts polled by Refinitiv SmartEstimate, weighted toward analysts that are more consistently accurate. Revenue slumped 32% to 4.4 trillion won, LG Display said. Shares in LG Display widened losses, falling 4% after the results announcement, versus a 0.2% drop in the wider market (.KS11).

Hyundai and partner SK On, a battery unit of SK Innovation Co Ltd (096770.KS), will set up a new battery manufacturing plant in the state of Georgia, the companies said, formalising an earlier provisional agreement. Accompanying Yoon on the trip are top executives of some of South Korea's biggest companies, including Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung. Rivals General Motors Co (GM.N) and Samsung SDI (006400.KS) said they would invest over $3 billion to build a joint venture EV battery manufacturing plant in the United States. That compared with a Refinitiv SmartEstimate for first-quarter profit of 2.3 trillion won from 16 analysts. Hyundai and Kia cars are competitive in the U.S., based on their prices and a favourable exchange rate, he added.

The firm's loss widened as a global economic slowdown worsened a memory chip glut during the first quarter, prompting sluggish demand and falling prices, SK Hynix said. However, "we expect revenue to rebound in the second quarter after bottoming out in the first, driven by a gradual increase in sales volume," SK Hynix said. Such cuts will reduce inventory across the industry and improve market conditions from the current quarter, SK Hynix said. The loss is the biggest since SK Group acquired Hynix in 2012, and is the second in a row after the fourth quarter's 1.9 trillion won loss. SK Hynix shares traded up 2.1% versus a 0.2% decline in the wider market (.KS11), after the firm flagged a market rebound.

Samsung estimated its operating profit fell to 600 billion won ($455.5 million) in January-March, from 14.12 trillion won a year earlier, in a short preliminary earnings statement. The production cut signal is unusually strong for Samsung, which previously said it would make small adjustments like pauses for refurbishing production lines but not a full-blown cut. The first-quarter profit fell short of a 873 billion won Refinitiv SmartEstimate, weighted toward analysts who are more consistently accurate. It was the lowest since a 590 billion won profit in the first quarter of 2009, according to company data. Revenue likely fell 19% from the same period a year earlier to 63 trillion won, Samsung said.

☆ Samsung quarterly profit set to hit 14-year low amid chip glut
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Joyce Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Samsung, the world's biggest maker of memory chips, TVs and smartphones as of 2022, is a bellwether for global consumption trends. Operating profit likely fell to 1.08 trillion won in the quarter ended March 31, according to a Refinitiv SmartEstimate from 27 analysts, weighted toward those who are more consistently accurate. That is lowest since a 590 billion won profit in the first quarter of 2009, according to company data, and compares with an operating profit of 14.12 trillion won last year. In February, Samsung Electronics said it planned to borrow 20 trillion won from unit Samsung Display to use as operational funds until August 2025. Operating profit at Samsung's mobile business likely fell by 9% to 3.46 trillion won in the March quarter, an average of seven analyst estimates showed.

☆ Samsung Display to invest $3.1 bln in OLED production in South Korea
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SEOUL, April 4 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics' (005930.KS) unit Samsung Display plans to invest 4.1 trillion won ($3.14 billion) until 2026 in Asan, South Korea to make advanced organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panels used in tablets and computers, the trade ministry said on Tuesday. The investment is part of a previously-announced plan by Samsung Electronics and affiliates to invest 60.1 trillion won in the next 10 years in regions outside the capital, Seoul. ($1 = 1,307.7000 won)Reporting by Joyce Lee, Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The money will be used for operational funds such as buying chip production materials, SK Hynix said in regulatory filing on Tuesday. SK Hynix's deal was the largest convertible bond in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, in a year, according to Refinitiv data. SK Hynix did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the demand. Shares in SK Hynix fell as much as 4% in Tuesday trade, while the wider market (.KS11) rose 0.4% as of 0238 GMT. SK Hynix posted a record quarterly operating loss of 1.7 trillion won ($1.38 billion) in the September-December quarter.

"The new cuts are underpinning that the OPEC+ group is intact and that Russia is still an integral and important part of the group," SEB analyst Bjarne Schieldrop said. Higher prices will likely spell more income for Moscow to fund its expensive war in Ukraine, upsetting Saudi-U.S. relations further, Schieldrop said. "The U.S. administration may also argue that higher oil prices will counter its efforts to put out the inflation fire," he added. [1/2] An OPEC flag is seen on the day of OPEC+ meeting in Vienna in Vienna, Austria October 5, 2022. "Producing countries apparently want to see oil prices rise to $90-$100/bbl, but higher oil prices also mean higher risk of economic downturn and sluggish demand," he added.

REUTERS/Nacho DoceTOKYO/SEOUL, March 31 (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) is considering setting up a chip test line in Japan, five people said, to bolster its advanced packaging business and forge closer ties with Japanese makers of semiconductor equipment and materials. It would be the first such test line in Japan for Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips. Companies are racing to develop advanced packaging techniques, which involve placing chips with different functions into a single package, to enhance overall capabilities and limit the added cost of more advanced chips. The test line would involve the so-called back-end process of chipmaking, according to the five people, which refers to a process in which semiconductors are cut and assembled into products. Samsung last year set up an advanced packaging team in South Korea.

☆ US chip subsidy criteria could be a 'burden', says South Korea
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Samsung is building a chip plant in Texas that could cost over $25 billion and has said it is reviewing the guidelines. However, funding applications may require detailed cost structure information as well as projected wafer yields, utilisation rates and price changes, which three Korean chip sources told Reuters was akin to revealing corporate strategy. The United States' subsidy provisions should reflect the opinions of the government and companies of South Korea so they do not impose any undue burden on those companies, South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun said in a statement on Thursday. Ahn's comment came from a meeting with United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai in South Korea, a leading chipmaking country and major investor in the U.S. chip sector. The U.S. Department of Commerce will accept subsidy applications for leading-edge chip facilities from March 31, and for current-generation, mature-node and back-end production facilities from June 26.

☆ Kakao's stake in K-pop agency SM climbs to 40%, HYBE retains 8.8%
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Hyunsu Yim | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SEOUL, March 28 (Reuters) - South Korean social media giant Kakao's stake in K-pop agency SM Entertainment (041510.KQ) has reached 40%, the target said on Tuesday, in a deal that has left former bidder HYBE (352820.KS) stuck with more than half of its stake in SM. But Kakao's tender offer for a 35% stake at 150,000 won per share attracted acceptances for more than double the targeted stake, forcing it to scale back allotments in proportion. HYBE said it was left with an 8.81% stake in SM. Kim Hyun-yong, an analyst at Hyundai Motor Securities, said maintaining the remaining stake in SM could help HYBE contain Kakao in the long run. HYBE plans a substantial number of acquisitions and investments this year as the K-pop giant looks to boost its U.S. presence, its chairman Bang Si-hyuk said this month.

☆ Chip plants in China won't be forced to shut if firms receive US funding, says S.Korea
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday proposed limits for recipients of U.S. chip manufacturing and research funding, including limits on investing in expansion in countries such as China and Russia. The world's largest and second-largest memory-chip makers, Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK Hynix (000660.KS), have chip production facilities in China. Samsung is building a chip plant in Texas that could cost more than $25 billion, while SK Hynix parent SK Group announced last year plans to invest $15 billion in the U.S. chip industry. The proposed rules for funding recipients limit chip production capacity growth in China to 5% over 10 years as measured by wafers, and 10% for older legacy chips, the trade ministry said. Samsung and SK Hynix said they would review the details of the announcement.

☆ Samsung Electronics to invest $230 bln through 2042 in South Korea chipmaking base
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SEOUL, March 15 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) on Wednesday said it will invest around 300 trillion won ($230 billion) by 2042 to develop what the government called the world's largest chip-making base, in line with efforts to enhance South Korea's chip industry. The amount makes up most of the 550 trillion won in private-sector investment announced by the government on Wednesday, under a strategy that expands tax breaks and infrastructure support to increase the competitiveness of high-tech industries including those involving chips, displays and batteries. Samsung's manufacturing additions will include five chip factories and attract up to 150 materials, parts and equipment makers, fabless chipmakers and semiconductor research-and-development organisations, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement. South Korea, home to the world's two biggest memory chip makers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix Inc (000660.KS), is seeking to improve supply-chain stability to become a major player in the non-memory chip field, currently dominated by chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (2330.TW) and Intel Corp (INTC.O). ($1 = 1,305.1200 won)Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO, March 15 (Reuters) - A chip plant that South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) is building in Taylor, Texas, will cost the world's biggest memory chipmaker over $25 billion, up more than $8 billion from initial forecasts, according to two people familiar with the matter. The increase in cost is primarily due to inflation, the people said, declining to be named because the information was not public. "The higher construction cost is about 80% of the cost increase," one of the sources said. Meanwhile, Intel Corp (INTC.O) announced a $20 billion chip factory in Ohio that it could expand to cost up to $100 billion. Samsung, the world's No.2 contract chip manufacturer, announced its Taylor, Texas, plant in 2021.

SEOUL, March 8 (Reuters) - South Korea's government approved export licenses for Poland last year to provide Ukraine with Krab howitzers, which are built with South Korean components, a defence acquisition official in Seoul told Reuters on Wednesday. The comments are the first confirmation that South Korea officially acquiesced to at least indirectly providing weapons components to Ukraine for its war against Russia. Seoul officials have previously declined to comment on the Krabs, fuelling speculation over whether South Korea had formally agreed or was simply looking the other way. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said at the time that South Korea, a U.S. ally, had not provided any weapons. Kim said Poland would need further South Korean permission to provide any of those new weapons to Ukraine.

SEOUL, March 6 (Reuters) - South Korea will halt a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute process sparked by a complaint against Japan as the two countries discuss Japan's export curbs on high-tech materials to South Korea, the two countries' trade ministries said on Monday. In July 2019, Japan imposed export curbs on materials used in smartphone displays and chips amid a decades-old row with Seoul about South Koreans who said they were forced to work under Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of Korea. As South Korea has proposed its companies would compensate those people, both countries will quickly begin discussions to return export curbs to their pre-July 2019 state, the ministries said on Monday. "The suspension of the WTO dispute resolution process is not really a withdrawal... but a pause," said Kamchan Kang, director-general at Korea's trade ministry. Reporting by Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Kim Coghill and Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Under the plan, South Korea would compensate former forced labourers through an existing public foundation funded by private-sector companies, South Korea's Foreign Minister Park Jin told a briefing. SOUTH KOREAN FUNDSRelations plunged to their lowest point in decades after South Korea's Supreme Court in 2018 ordered Japanese firms to pay reparations to former forced labourers. Overall there are fewer than 1,300 living victims of forced labour in South Korea, according to media estimates. The South Korean companies include KT&G (033780.KS), Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) (015760.KS) and other companies that benefited from a 1965 treaty between South Korea and Japan. Asked whether Japanese companies would pitch in to compensate, Park said both Japanese and South Korean businesses were considering a plan to contribute.

☆ S.Korea's Yoon says cooperation with US, Japan key to overcoming N.Korea threats
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a ceremony of the 104th anniversary of the March 1st Independence Movement Day against Japanese colonial rule, in Seoul on March 1, 2023. Jung Yeon-Je/Pool via REUTERSSEOUL, March 1 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday that trilateral cooperation with the United States and Japan has become more important than ever to overcoming North Korea's growing nuclear threats and other crises. Yoon spoke at an event commemorating the country's historic March First independence movement against Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of Korea. "Japan has transformed from a militaristic aggressor of the past into a partner that shares the same universal values with us," said Yoon. Though Japan and South Korea are at times uneasy neighbours, the three countries are keen to expand cooperation in various fields in the face of increased global tensions, a more assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea.

Align Partners' stake in SM, a pioneer in K-pop behind acts like Girls' Generation and Red Velvet, is just 1% - but still worth tens of millions of dollars. HYBE hasn't disclosed whether it intends to buy more of SM after the current tender offer. Taken together, the 40% stake would cost HYBE about 1.137 trillion won ($884 million) under current plans - though SM shares traded above HYBE's tender offer price on Thursday. Align's Lee said this would become a proxy fight, with SM's current executives wooing shareholders with plans to improve SM's sales and profitability. ($1 = 1,284.9500 won)Reporting by Hyunsu Yim and Joyce Lee; Editing by Kenneth MaxwellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Samsung Electronics to borrow $16 bln from Samsung Display unit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SEOUL, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) plans to borrow 20 trillion won ($15.78 billion) from unit Samsung Display to use as operational funds, the tech giant said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. Samsung plans to borrow the funds at a 4.6% interest rate until August 2025, it said. Samsung indicated last month it has no plan to cut investment in chips this year, despite reporting an 8-year-low profit in the December quarter driven by a sharp industry downturn. ($1 = 1,267.7500 won)Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] AI chip startup Rebellions co-founder and chief executive Park Sunghyun works at the company headquarters in Seongnam, South Korea February 2023. SEOUL Feb 13 (Reuters) - South Korean startup Rebellions Inc launches an artificial intelligence (AI) chip on Monday, racing to win government contracts as Seoul seeks a place for local companies in the exploding AI industry. "But it's not set in stone because AI chips can carry out different functions and there aren't set boundaries or metrics." A100 is the most popular chip for AI workloads, powerful enough to create - in industry lingo, "train" - the AI models. Rebellions declined to give a forecast for its AI chip venture.

☆ Samsung's newest Galaxy S smartphones a test of brand power in weak market
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Joyce Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Samsung Electronics' flagship smartphone Galaxy S23 is seen on display at an unveiling ceremony in Seoul, South Korea, January 30, 2023. The Galaxy S23 smartphone series has better cameras and faster chips than its predecessor, but analysts said early sales would face weak demand as consumers spent less on discretionary goods amid surging inflation. In the United States, the base Galaxy S23 will be priced from $799 and two higher-specification versions, the S23 Plus and S23 Ultra, from $999 and $1,199, respectively. In that tough environment, analysts said Samsung's mobile strategy would centre on profitability through premium offerings, including the S series and foldables. Samsung said on Tuesday that a decline in low- and mid-range smartphone sales in the fourth quarter had been greater than expected.

[1/2] Memory chips by South Korean semiconductor supplier SK Hynix are seen on a circuit board of a computer in this illustration picture taken February 25, 2022. SK Hynix flagged lower chip prices in the current quarter. For the fourth quarter ended December, SK Hynix swung to a worse-than-expected 1.7 trillion won ($1.38 billion) operating loss, from 4.2 trillion won profit a year earlier. Analysts had expected a 1.3 trillion won operating loss, according to Refinitiv SmartEstimate. On its earnings call, SK Hynix said it will focus its resources on advanced chips to prepare for a market upturn in 2024.

"Samsung, in a roundabout way, is saying production will decrease slightly," said analyst Kim Yang-jae at Daol Investment and Securities. CHIP PROFIT TUMBLESEarlier on Tuesday, Samsung reported its lowest quarterly profit since 2014 and said persistent macroeconomic uncertainty will make for a tough first half of this year, though it expects demand to start recovering in the second half. At 4.3 trillion won ($3.49 billion), October-December operating profit was Samsung's lowest quarterly profit in eight years. Some analysts expect the chip business to book a loss in the first quarter, pulling overall profit below that of the fourth. In mobile, Samsung said fourth-quarter profit fell to 1.7 trillion won from 2.66 trillion won a year earlier, as a decline in low- and mid-end smartphone sales was greater than expected.

At 4.3 trillion won ($3.49 billion), October-December operating profit was Samsung's lowest quarterly profit in eight years. Revenue fell 8% to 70.5 trillion won. Some analysts expect the chip business to book a loss in the first quarter, pulling overall profit below that of the fourth. Memory chip rivals Micron Technology Inc (MU.O) and SK Hynix Inc (000660.KS) had already said they would slash investment in 2023. Investors will be watching for whether Samsung avoids mentioning a direct chip production cut - as is its usual stance - or rather gives a clear signal of production cuts given the severity of the memory chip down-cycle.

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