Next year's memory: 0.3% down … Even though the semiconductor booming,

The growth of the semiconductor market, which accounts for 20% of exports and is the sole defender of the Korean economy, is expected to slow down next year. Negative growth (-) is particularly expected in the semiconductor memory sector, led by national companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

According to the World Institute of Semiconductor Market Statistics (WSTS), the semiconductor memory market will decline by 0.3%, from $ 165.1 billion this year to about $ 164.4 billion billion, or 184,000 billion won. The semiconductor memory market led the "Super Cycle Semiconductor" with an explosive growth rate of 61.5% last year and 33.2% this year. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the two largest memory semiconductor manufacturers in the world, are expected to record operating profits of more than 60 billion won this year alone. In the last three quarters, Samsung Electronics reported operating profit of SK Hynix's 13.565 billion won in semiconductors and 6.7 trillion won.

WSTS predicted that the global semiconductor market would grow by 2.6%, from $ 477.9 billion this year to $ 491 billion next year. WSTS has released its quarterly market outlook for the quarter, with the semiconductor market expected to reach $ 502 billion ($ 562) in August. That's half of the projected growth rate.

In Korea, the outlook is mixed. The Korean International Trade Association (KITA) said: "Semiconductors will exceed 130 billion dollars (146 trillion won) for the first time next year, but the growth rate of exports, which was 30% this year, will be reduced to 5% next year. "

Semiconductor prices are also down. According to the global market research firm DRAM Exchange, the fixed price of DRAM (DDR4 8Gb 2133 / 2400MHz DDR) fell by 10.74% from $ 7.31 at the end of last month. The fixed price of the NAND flash (128 Gb 16Gx8 MLC) also decreased by 6.51% over the same period, to stand at $ 4.74. DRAMeXchange expects prices for DRAMs to drop by 15 to 20 percent this year and 25 to 30 percent for NAND flash memory. The NAND flash fears that the drop is bigger.

High-end semiconductor theory was rejected last November when Morgan Stanley released an investment report titled "Now is a Pause". Global investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Nomura Securities have been added to the transaction. In the securities market, the semiconductor market is slowing in the third quarter. "DRAM and NAND flash memory prices are expected to fall by 18% and 23% respectively for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix," said Lee Jong-woo, researcher at Korea Investment & Securities. Kim Sung-woo, a researcher at Meritz Securities, said: "DRAM has already peaked and prices will continue to fall until the middle of next year."

The semiconductor industry does not deny that the last two years of the super-cycle has pbaded, but says that "the atmosphere is still not bad". Until now, the stagnation of memory was motivated by the rapid growth of robots, artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual money markets, as well as by large data centers built by global companies such as Google and Amazon. Although the mobile phone market has declined, the industry continues to see growing demand for this type of demand.

A related person from Samsung Electronics said: "Even though a downtrend is possible in 1Q11, a positive trend is expected with the market improvement after 2Q11". We focus on strengthening the competitiveness of companies. SK Hynix representatives also said, "We will successfully meet customer needs by mbad-producing second-generation 10nm DRAMs and 96-stage NAND flashes that deliver the best performance and cost competitiveness in the world. 39; industry. "

Lee Jong-ho, a professor at the Joint Institute of Semiconductor Research at the Seoul National University (Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering), said: "The semiconductor boom is 39, is continued for a long time because the offer was not able to cope with an explosive demand.I was driving. "" We must now cross the culmination with the strategy of the "new gap" to create a new market is the key to finding and promoting creative and convergent talent. "Lee Sang-jae, reporter [email protected]