SK hynix establishes R&D center in Italy

Kwon Oh-chul, center, CEO of SK hynix, and Carlo Golla, second from left, head of SK hynix’s new research and development center in Agrate Brianza, Italy, cut a ribbon during the opening ceremony for the facility, Tuesday. / Courtesy of SK hynix

SK hynix announced Tuesday that it has established its first European research center by acquiring an Italy-based flash-type chip producer.

This is the first time for the Korean chipmaker to buy a foreign firm in a decade. Early this year, Korea’s biggest mobile carrier SK Telecom purchased a controlling stake of Hynix and renamed it SK hynix.

In a statement, the company said the deal was ordered directly by SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who is also co-CEO of SK hynix, as he has stronger intent for the further development of flash-type memory chips.

SK Hynix, the world’s No. 2 memory chipmaker, has a competitive edge in the DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chip market. However, as a “second-tier’’ manufacturer of NAND flash chips it is struggling to ship more of them to bigger customers such as Apple.

“This is why SK hynix acquired the Italian NAND flash developing company Ideaflash, and renamed it SK hynix Ideaflash,’’ said an SK hynix official.

The acquisition comes as no surprise as Ideaflash was previously under Swiss company STMicroelectronics and American firm Spansion, and has around 50 engineers with 12 years experience. It had strategic alliances with Spansion and STMicroelectronics in various mutually-interested areas.

SK hynix officials stress it’s been freed from possible debate over technology leaks as the company will use the center for research purposes.

Kwon Oh-chul, president and the other co-CEO of SK hynix, attended the opening ceremony for the research and development (R&D) center. He reiterated the chairman’s goals to reinforce technological advancement, saying “The Italian R&D center will closely cooperate with headquarters in Korea and operate as a core for NAND flash development. The firm will further strengthen global R&D competence with (our) outstanding experts.”

NAND flash memory chips are a must-have technology with the emergence of various solutions that combine technologies in the mobile area. Besides its DRAM line-up, NAND chips are one of SK hynix’s most lucrative products with many global clients. The company is planning to use the new center as a base to meet demand from the European market.

Chey has high expectations for SK hynix to become one of the group’s pillars and has visited the new sister companies’ factories and research centers multiple times.

Ideaflash CEO Carlo Golla will continue at the facility’s helm under SK’s supervision.

The Korean memory chipmaker also has research centers in the United States, Japan and Taiwan as well as Korea. It is working on developments concurrently in the three continents the company’s clients are mostly based. <The Korea Times/Cho Mu-hyun>

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