SK Hynix

SK hynix Inc.

Native name	에스케이하이닉스 주식회사
Type	Public
Traded as	KRX: 000660
Industry	Semiconductor
Founded	1983 (1983) as Hyundai Electric Industry 2001 as Hynix Semiconductors 2012 as SK Hynix
Headquarters	Icheon, South Korea
Key people	Sungwook Park (CEO)
Products	DRAM, NAND flash
Revenue	US$15.98 billion (2015)[1]
Operating income	US$4.53 billion(2015)[1]
Net income	US$3.67 billion(2015)[1]
Total assets	US$25.24 billion(2015)[1]
Total equity	US$18.19 billion(2015)[1]
Number of employees	Korea: 22,254 (2016)[2] Overseas: ?
Parent	SK Group
Website	www.skhynix.com

SK hynix Inc. (KRX: 000660) is a South Korean memory semiconductor supplier of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips and flash memory chips. Hynix is the world's second-largest memory chipmaker (after Samsung Electronics)^[3] and the world's fifth-largest semiconductor company.^[4] Founded as Hyundai Electronic Industrial Co., Ltd. in 1983^[5] and known as Hyundai Electronics, the company has manufacturing sites in Korea, the United States, China^[6] and Taiwan. In 2012, when SK Telecom became its major shareholder, Hynix merged to SK Group^[5] (the third largest conglomerate in South Korea). The company's shares are traded on the Korea Stock Exchange, and the Global Depository shares are listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Hynix memory is used by Apple in some of their iMac, MacBook and MacBook Pro computers. Apple's A9 chipset is onboard together with a SK Hynix RAM module believed to be "likely the same 2 GB LPDDR4 mobile DRAM found in the iPhone 6s".^[7] Hynix memory is also used by Asus in their Google-branded Nexus 7 tablet (both 2012 and 2013 models, respectively), an OEM provider for IBM System x servers, and is used in desktop PCs and laptops as well as the Asus Eee PC. Dell and Hewlett-Packard (later split as HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise) have also used Hynix memory as OEM equipment.^[3] Other products that use Hynix memory include DVD players, cellular phones, set-top boxes, personal digital assistants, networking equipment, and hard disk drives.^[8]

History

• 1949 Originally incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Korea^[9]
• 1983 Founded as Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.^[5] (The name Hynix comes from Hy in Hyundai and nix [from nics in Electronics])
• 1985 Started mass production of 256K DRAM
• 1986 The Hyundai-manufactured Blue Chip PC was sold in discount and toy stores throughout the US. It is one of the earliest PC clones marketed toward consumers instead of business.^[10]
• 1993 Took over Maxtor (US HDD main factory)
• 1996 Initial public offering on the Korea Stock Exchange^[9]
• 1999 Merged with LG Semiconductor Co., Ltd.^[5][9]
• 2000 Spun off Hyundai Image Quest, Hyundai Autonet and Hyundai Calibration & Certification Technologies
• 2001 Changed the company name to Hynix Semiconductor Inc.;^[9] spun off Hyundai Syscomm, Hyundai CuriTel, and Hyundai Networks; completed spin-off from Hyundai Group^[9]
• 2002 Sold HYDIS, TFT-LCD Business Unit
• 2004 Signed System IC Business Transfer Agreement with System Semiconductor
• 2005 Emerged from Corporate Restructuring Promotion Act ahead of schedule
• 2006 Posted record the highest revenues since foundation
  Established global manufacturing network with complete construction of Hynix-ST Semiconductor Inc.
  Hynix's wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary in China
• 2007 Appointed Jong-Kap Kim as the new chairman & CEO
• 2009 Company put up for sale by its lenders after it defaulted on loans and a subsequent debt-equity swap
• 2010 Fine of €51.47 million for illegally fixing prices with eight other memory chip makers.^[11]
  In January 2010, Hynix Semiconductor Inc was put up for sale in an auction valued at close to $3 billion.^[12][13]
  On August 31, 2010, HP announced collaboration with Hynix to bring memristor to high volume manufacturing step (targeted for 2013).^[14]
• 2012 SK Group, the third-largest conglomerate in South Korea, acquired a 21.05% stake in Hynix.^[15]
• 2013 Fab 1 and Fab 2 in China both suffered a massive fire which took the factories offline temporarily.^[16]
• 2014 SK Hynix acquired the firmware division of Softeq Development FLLC to make it a part of its global R&D network alongside Italy-based Ideaflash S.r.l, Link_A_Media Devices and Violin Memory in the US, and Taiwanese Innostor Technology.^[17][18]

Products

A 512MB DDR 333 MHz SO-DIMM Hynix memory module

Hynix produces a variety of semiconductor memories, such as:

• Computing memory
• Consumer and network memory
• Graphics memory
• Mobile memory
• NAND flash
• CMOS image sensor
• Solid state drives (SSD)

See also

• List of semiconductor fabrication plants

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hynix.

• Official website