Samsung to skip annual chip-unveiling event amid market slump

SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest maker of computer memory chips, has recently decided not to hold its annual event that showcases its latest chip development technologies, company officials said Thursday.

The decision by Samsung to cancel the event this year comes amid a prolonged
slump in the global DRAM and NAND flash markets, with many of its rivals, such as
Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Micron Technology Inc., recently deciding to cut
production output to cope with falling profitability.

"We've decided to focus our business on boosting output in our pre-existing
32-gigabit and 64-gigabit chip models for this year," a Samsung official
said, requesting anonymity.

The company will emphasize increasing its output volume this year rather than
showing off its latest technological feats, one of which includes an
unprecedented technology making use of the 3D cell-stack method, the official
noted.

Market watchers see Samsung's decision to prioritize output as a strategy to
overwhelm its rivals -- who are reducing their production capacities -- through
increased production volume.

The company's annual event, normally held in September, has served as a proving
ground for what market watchers describe as "Hwang's Law."

The idea, introduced in 2002 and named after Hwang Chang-gyu, the former head of
Samsung's semiconductor division, states that flash memory chips double in
storage capability every year, which Samsung has proved each year at the event.

odissy@yna.co.kr

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