Asian chip makers to gain from Qimonda’s troubles
Battered Asian memory chip makers will get some respite from oversupply in the long term after German chipmaker Qimonda filed for insolvency but the industry’s recovery depends on a pick-up in demand. Makers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, used mainly in personal computers and increasingly in mobile devices and game consoles, are fighting a long supply glut and falling demand in a global downturn that is causing them to lose money on each chip they make.
Although the direct impact on chip supply would be limited, Qimonda’s troubles should give investors a reason to focus on leading players, such as Samsung Electronics, Hynix Semiconductor and Elpida Memory. “The Qimonda news is like rain after a long drought,” said Jay Kim, an analyst at Hyundai Securities in Seoul. Qimonda, ranked as the world’s fifth-largest memory chip maker in the second quarter of 2008, filed for insolvency on Friday as a result of huge industry price drops and a credit squeeze.
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