Samsung ‘cautious’ about semiconductor outlook
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Samsung Electronics says it remains cautious about the memory chip sector's outlook, even as the industry emerges from a two year slump.
Between January and March, Samsung's semiconductor unit suffered losses of £330million. However, the firm posted a rise in quarterly profits in July, citing sales of mobile phones and flat screen tvs as the driver. And although global semiconductor demand is better than Samsung's previous expectations – and the South Korean business is increasing chip production to meet the demand – Oh-Hyun Kwon, head of the company's semiconductor business, said he remained watchful.
Kwon said: "The semiconductor sector is now performing better than our own expectations because of government help. However, we remain cautious about things and are looking to Thanksgiving for a turning point." He added that he expects the current shortage of high end DDR3 chips used in many pcs to be resolved in the short term, "Higher chip prices will be good for DRAM makers," he noted. "But that'll be bad for our clients. The best thing right now is for prices to stabilise."