SK하이닉스가 늦어도 6월부터 삼성전자에 모바일 디램과 낸드 메모리를 공급할 예정으로 알려졌다.

공급량은 삼성전자의 무선수요의 약 5분의 1 가까이 될 것이라고 관계자들은 전했다.

이미 지난주, 삼성전자 IM부문의 신종균 사장은 삼성이 하이닉스에 공급요청을 할 수도 있다고 밝힌바 있다.

업계 관계자들에 따르면 이미 생산물량까지 확정이 된 상태이며, 6월 출고만 기다리고 있다고 전했다.

현재 스마트폰 세계 1위 업체로서 27일 갤럭시 S4를 세계 60개국에 전격 출시한 삼성전자는 갤럭시 S 시리즈의 고공판매 덕분에 메모리수요가 부족한 행복한 고민에 빠져있다.

하반기에 출시될 갤럭시 노트 3와 3분기라는 계절적인 수요부족 요인과 맞물려 공급을 맞추기 더욱 어려워질 것으로 전문가들은 예측했다.

세계 1,2위 메모리 업체간의 보기드문 파트너십으로 인해 SK하이닉스로부터 메모리를 공급 받고 있는 애플은 당분간 가격조정에 대한 압박에 시달릴 전망이다. 

(코리아 헤럴드 김지현 기자)


<관련 영문 기사>

SK Hynix to supply Samsung as early as June 

By Kim Ji-hyun 

SK Hynix Semiconductor will be supplying Samsung Electronics with memory chips as early as June, enough to make up for to 20 percent of Samsung’s mobile business, industry sources said on Monday.

The deal would mark the first time for SK Hynix to supply Samsung, and also would become a partnership to note as it means a deal between the world’s largest memory chipmakers, No. 1 Samsung and No. 2 SK Hynix.

There already had been reports that Samsung wants to diversify its mobile chip sources by leaning on SK Hynix, instead of fulfilling all demands internally as it is doing currently.

Samsung Electronics’ mobile business chief, Shin Jong-kyun, had said last week that Samsung may ask SK Hynix to supply mobile DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips and NAND memory.

Sources said that the supply orders have already been issued toward SK Hynix, with the latter in full gear to fulfill them.

The biggest factor behind the partnership is Samsung’s incapacity to meet its own mobile demand, despite spending billions of dollars on its memory chip lines.

The recent launch of the Galaxy S4, coupled with the anticipated roll-out of the Galaxy Note 3 in the latter half of the year, will undoubtedly lead to a supply crunch -- which Samsung hopes to avoid with the mobile DRAM chips manufactured by SK Hynix.

Seasonal reasons also are responsible for the supply of the mobile DRAM chips, since the third quarter is traditionally when demand goes up, according to industry data.

Data from Display Analytics showed last week that Samsung Electronics, as of the first quarter of this year, grabbed more than one-third of the global smartphone market share after shipping a record amount of handsets.

SK Hynix has so far chosen to remain mum on the issue. The chipmaker’s chief executive Park Sung-wook recently told reporters that he was not in a position to comment about what is being supplied to its clients.

The deal is particularly sensitive since it would give Apple, currently one of SK Hynix’s largest clients, another push to lower to its prices, since it has so far been stringing along suppliers at cheap prices.

Suppliers so far were reticent to criticize Apple’s price policies, since supplying to one of the world’s most valuable companies had held significant meaning in itself. 

(jemmie@heraldcorp.com)