Korean IT Giants Facing Survival Game'(The Korea Times)

South Korea is the internal of the world"s No. 1 and No. 2 reminiscence chipmakers Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor. Samsung is also the world"s biggest liquid crystal show (LCD) television maker and panel supplier, while LG Array previously LG.Philips LCD follows Samsung in the bravura sector by revenue.

Production experts have generally agreed that it is very early to divulge if or not South Korean semiconductor and apartment lodgings shade giants testament soon fall bottom dog to their Japanese and Taiwanese rivals, as the Korean players still annex competitive technological advantages.

However, they corner not ruled elsewhere the worst case scenario"" citing the industries" consolidation moves across the globe. I admit worries are unexpectedly aerial that our global share in the memory-implemented chip sector will chop unless instant measures are taken,"" a high-ranking accredited from Samsung Electronics told The Korea Times Sunday.

Samsung Group"s strategic planning band has been spending a appreciable dimensions of clock tackling the bribery scandal, resulting in the group"s flagship Samsung Electronics postponing this year"s detailed investment plans in the cash cow"" semiconductor business.

In contrast, the global DRAM chip industry is about to peep essential change"" as big players in the sector are looking for ways to contract losses by adopting a also cost-effective manufacturing process. Last week, Taiwan-based Nanya and its U.S.

Micron Technology agreed to locate up a seam chance to foster a good 50-nanometer constant technology using the advanced stack"" manner (vertical expansion) as opposed to the unprofitable trench"" transaction (horizontal expansion), an ambitious shift by the Taiwanese player to survive in the ongoing gloomy market situation. Moreover, Japan-based Elpida is reportedly seeking supplementary strategic partners including Micron to challenge Samsung.

DRAM chips are used in PCs, and manufacturers hog been suffering massive losses in latest years due to a advantage glut, spurred by high expectation of Microsoft"s Windows Vista operating system. Yet in the sector of ecocnomic NAND shine chips, the world"s No. 2 Toshiba is set to expand production lines with its U.S. San Disk by 2009 after withdrawing from the HD-DVD business.

NAND chips are used in high-end handheld gadgets such as MP3 players. The DRAM industry is experiencing consolidation" as Toshiba wants to overtake Samsung. We keep no future to waste,"" another Samsung endorsed said. Another Baneful Communication for LCDs Along with the semiconductor sector, South Korean flat screen makers are facing grave challenges from their Japanese rivals, who want to regain the glory they enjoyed in the 1980s.

In spite of a beefy column in original technology, Japanese TV manufactures include failed to control their global headship as they accept been hesitant to invest massively, unlike Samsung Electronics. Recently, Sony, the world"s No. 2 LCD TV allot maker, struck a deal with Sharp (rather than Samsung) to jointly construct an LCD plant producing next-generation over 60-inch panels.

While Sony says the alliance is a chunk of a strategy to diversify procurement channels under the booming mart situation, some experts asseverate that the movement is a bid to overthrown Samsung by riding on the South Korean rivals" bribery woes. Samsung and Sony have operated a joint biggie in South Korea called S-LCD"" by reason of 2004 to build LCDs used in their own flat-screen televisions. To cause things worse, Japan"s Panasonic, the world"s No.

1 plasma exposition supplier, announced that it will site the industry of exposure and expects to expand into LCD TVs completed a chief employment corporation with Sharp.

It is doable that Samsung will plunge after its Japanese rivals in the next-generation LCD metier from 2010 as Sharp will fabricate so-called 10th generation" panels with brawny value competitiveness,"" an industry source said. This might interest Samsung"s television business,"" the source added. No Cooperative Sign?

Despite mounting worries, it seems unlikely that South Korean flat screen and semiconductor makers will strengthen constructive"" partnerships with everyone other. Behind Friday, Hwang Chang-gyu, head of the state of Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Business, voiced opposition to Hynix Semiconductor"s proposed technology transfer to Taiwan"s ProMOS by saying the idea to transfer the pleasant 54-nanometer technology to ProMOS was a technology leak."

It is burdensome to fathom Hynix" move,"" he told reporters at a Seoul hotel. Concern is business. It seems unlikely both companies will widen a convention in core sectors,"" said another industry source.

Tardy latest year, Samsung and Toshiba reached an treaty to cross-license interface specifications and trademarks for their NAND glowing memory chips, forming Hynix stroke uneasy approximately who was eyeing the high-end chip sector to counteract falling profits from volatile DRAM chips. However, confident signs have emerged between community players in the LCD sector thanks to LG.Philips Manager Executive Kwon Young-soo said that his society has busy in talks with Samsung Electronics to function its distinctive 37-inch panel.