Myeong-seok Chae, Gounee Yang Global Economic News SOUTH KOREAN semiconductor companies, which posted record sales last year, plan to continue to expand their business this year. Despite the uncertain market factors, South Korean chip manufacturers are planning to maintain their semiconductor market leadership. Industry sources predict that Samsung, which ranked No.1 in the global chip market last year, will maintain its top position with strong sales of memory semiconductors and rapid growth of foundry business. SK Hynix is expected to solidify its second position in the NAND flash market as well as DRAMs by acquiring Intel’s NAND business. Although Samsung did not disclose specific amount of investment planned this year, the industry expects that it will make massive investment in the semiconductor industry. With a plan of building its third and fourth chip production factories, the firm’s investment is expected to exceed last year’s 70.6 trillion won (US$58 billion). SK is also expected to make investment more than last year’s investment of 13.4 trillion won. An industry source said SK will increase its investment in infrastructure such as semiconductor cluster in Yongin and R&D center in the United States. | 