Bad For them Good For Us...

A problem at the switch board at a transformer substation led to a power shortage at 2:30 p.m. (0530 GMT), the company said.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said on Friday it shut down six of its chip production lines after a power cut at a plant near Seoul, prompting expectations of tighter supply and a rise in prices.

Some said the incident could wipe out as much as a month's worth of Samsung's total production of NAND flash memory chips, which are widely used for data storage in portable electronics.

"It is probable that at least half of the chips already in the fabrication process will have to be discarded," said Lee Min-hee, an analyst for Dongbu Securities.

"Taking into account another two weeks for ramp-up of the lines after cleanup, Samsung could very well lose a month's worth of chip shipment," he said.

"When the power goes down, some of the wafers die in the process and they ... become obsolete," said Lee.

Overall NAND production at Samsung is likely to be particularly affected by the outage in Line 14, an advanced NAND flash line using larger wafers.(300 MM)

Sometimes Karma is a bitch... They changed 2 of their plants from Flash Memory to DRAM and flooded the market pushing the prices of DRAM down into the gutter. This hurt Qimonda and the rest of the companies that make this product.
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RMSTringer
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