Despite better-than-expected performance of Samsung Electronics Co., other Korean major technology companies are believed to have done poorly in the first half due to depressed prices of semiconductors and display panels.

SK Hynix, the world’s third largest semiconductor company, will likely see its operating profit shaved by a third from a year-ago period in the first quarter, due to falling chip prices from overall soft global demand in electronics, according to an unnamed industry source on Friday.

The source said the company`s income from January-March operation is estimated at around 560 billion won ($490 million), falling from 989 billion won in the previous quarter, 1.38 trillion won in the third quarter, 1.38 trillion won in the second, and 1.59 trillion won in the first quarter of 2015.

Poor demand in both parts and finished semiconductor has attributed to the company’s worsening performance. The average contract price for mainstream DDR3 (double data rate 3) 4Gb in dynamic random access memory (DRAM) plummeted from $3.4 in the first quarter last year to $1.65 during the first three months of this year.

An industry expert said when demand is waning, only the best would survive. Samsung Electronics with cost-saving technology was able to keep up performance in the first quarter despite unfavorable market conditions. Samsung was able to sustain profit by coming up with cutting-edge storage technology by shifting the planar NAND to a vertical structure.

Korean panel makers are also in for upsets. Panel prices have fallen sharply as overcapacity worsened from expansions by Chinese competitors. The average selling price for a 32-inch full-high-definition TV panel that had been $101 in the first quarter last year fell to $67 in the fourth quarter and $60 on average in the first quarter this year. LG Display Co. that reported 744 billion won in operating profit in the first quarter last year would have just managed to avoid a deficit in the first three months this year.

By Song Sung-hoon, Chung wook

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