Hynix Semiconductor Inc., Asia's second-largest maker of memory chips, reported a 36 percent gain in second-quarter profit after the company increased production faster than industry leader Samsung Electronics Co.
Net income rose to 324 billion won ($339 million) from 238 billion won a year earlier, the Ichon, South Korea-based company said in a regulatory filing today. Sales increased 28 percent to 1.6 trillion won.
Hynix raised production of chips that store data in Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod music players at almost five times the pace of Samsung, which said earlier this month that it faced manufacturing delays. For semiconductors that are used in computers, manufacturing growth was more than 50 percent higher than Samsung's.
``This is encouraging for the company's outlook,'' said Chun Seong Hoon, who helps manage the equivalent of $1.6 billion at SH Asset Management Co. in Seoul. ``It looks like they did a good job all-around, better than a lot of its competitors.''
Hynix shares rose 2.1 percent to 31,150 won, in line with the 2.4 percent gain by the benchmark Kospi stock index as of 9:22 a.m. in Seoul.
Increased Production
Hynix said it increased NAND flash memory chip production, measured in terms of storage capacity known as bits, by 84 percent from the first quarter as the company raised output of chips that can store more memory. Samsung, the world's largest maker of NAND, said last week that its production grew 17 percent.
Production of computer chips known as dynamic random access memory increased about 20 percent from the first quarter, Hynix said. Samsung said its DRAM production grew 13 percent.
Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung last week reported that its semiconductor division's profit fell 11 percent from a year earlier to 980 billion won, while revenue from the division increased 6 percent to 4.4 trillion won.
Hynix widened its profit margin from a year earlier as prices fell at a slower pace than costs. Average second-quarter prices of Hynix's DRAM chips fell about 20 percent from year earlier, less than the 30 percent drop in costs, according to estimates by Korea Investment & Securities Co. analyst Michael Min before the company announced results.
From the first quarter, Hynix said average DRAM prices rose about 1 percent, while prices of NAND flash memory chips used in consumer electronics dropped 44 percent.
Net income fell short of the 345 billion won median forecast of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News, while sales were in line with expectations. Operating profit rose 51 percent to 323 billion won, compared with the 391 billion won median estimate from the survey.
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