SK Hynix sees fall in quarterly profit

Seoul: The world´s second-largest memory chip maker, South Korea´s SK Hynix, saw operating profits drop for the first time in two years in the fourth quarter as prices fell, it said on Thursday.Korean chipmakers -- led by the behemoth Samsung Electronics -- have enjoyed record profits in recent years as prices for their products soared.

But demand has started to decline as global market supply increases, after manufacturers invested billions in new factories.

SK Hynix supplies chips to companies from US giant Apple to China´s Huawei Technologies, and recorded operating profits of 4.46 trillion won ($3.9 billion) in the October to December period, it said.

It was a 0.8 percent decline year-on-year, but the quarter-on-quarter changes were dramatic: revenues dropped 13 percent, operating profits slumped 32 percent, and net income fell 28 percent.

"As memory demand slowed down in the second half and the supply shortage was resolved, the memory market environment rapidly changed," the company said in a statement.