Hynix Semiconductor said Thursday it swung to a second-quarter net loss from the same period last year on costs to close a U.S. factory. Sales also fell.
Hynix lost 707.81 billion won (US$697.11 million) in the three months ending June 30, the company said in a regulatory filing. Hynix posted net profit of 213.5 billion won a year earlier.
It was the third straight loss for the Icheon, South Korea-based company. Sales during the second quarter declined 5 percent to 1.85 trillion won (US$1.82 billion) from the year before.
O.C. Kwon, a Hynix senior vice president, told analysts on a conference call the company had a non-operating expense of about 360 billion won (US$356 million) during the quarter related to the closure of its U.S. chip plant.
Hynix announced last week that it would shutter its facility in Eugene, Oregon, amid migration to more advanced technology and industry price declines. It is considering selling the facility's equipment, building and land.
"If we can sell those asset(s) at a higher price later, hopefully, maybe we can record another capital gain," Kwon said.
Kwon said that Hynix expects the market to improve in the second half of this year as demand for laptop computers, especially low-cost models, "will drive the growth of the PC market."
Kwon also said the second-quarter's bottom line was hurt by a weak South Korean won that caused losses on U.S. dollar-denominated debt.
Hynix Semiconductor Inc. is the world's second-largest maker of computer memory chips after South Korean rival Samsung Electronics Co.
The company manufactures DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, chips used in personal computers to temporarily store information that is lost when the device is switched off. It also produces NAND flash memory chips used in digital cameras and music players, which can retain data even if they are not powered.
Shares in Hynix, which released earnings results just before the stock market opened, rose 2.6 percent to close at 21,650 won (US$21), paring earlier gains of as much as 4 percent.
