Production goals still in reach, Samsung claims

Samsung Electronics opened its semiconductor plant in Giheung, Gyeonggi, to reporters yesterday to show that operations had returned to normal after a power outage stopped production for 21.5 hours on Friday. Provided by the company

Samsung Electronics, hit by a power failure at six of its semiconductor production lines on Friday, invited reporters yesterday for a tour around the Giheung plant in an unusual move to rebuild its corporate image and boast of a quicker-than-expected return to normalcy.
Hwang Chang-gyu, president of semiconductor operations at the world’s No. 1 memory chip maker, told reporters that he would prove the factory’s return to normalization by showing “remarkable earnings for the third and fourth quarters.”
He also said the company would not adjust its August production target, as it is capable of meeting the goal.
The second-quarter operating profit of the semiconductor division at Samsung Electronics was 330 billion won ($357 million), and analysts forecast the figure for the third quarter ending on Sept. 30 at around 900 billion won.
Kim Young-june, an analyst at Kyobo Securities, put his estimate at 840 billion won.
“In light of the fact that the Giheung plant resumed normal operations earlier than expected, it doesn’t seem like the production setback will be that huge,” he said. “I won’t revise my initial estimate.”
Over the course of the normalization process, fears of a supply shortage have driven up chip prices, which will make up for the losses, he added.
Shares of Toshiba of Japan and Hynix Semiconductor, Samsung’s rivals, rose yesterday on speculation that the power outage at Samsung Electronics may boost increased orders for the world’s second- and third-largest memory chip producers.
Hynix stock gained 0.7 percent on the main Kospi and Toshiba shares climbed 1.3 percent in Tokyo, although benchmark indexes in Asia fell. But Samsung stock declined 1 percent.
After rising on Friday, 8-gigabit single-level cell and multi-level NAND flash chips were up 10.7 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively, according to the most recent update at 6:51 p.m. yesterday on DRAMeXchange, a Taiwan-based market tracker.

By Seo Ji-eun Staff Writer [spring@joongang.co.kr]