"We didn't use any of Samsung Electronics' copper-based processing technology in our memory lines. Hynix is confident we will be cleared of such allegations in court," CEO Kim Jong-kap told The Korea Times.

Prosecutors have arrested two executives from Applied Materials in Seoul, South Korea on charges of allegedly stealing Samsung process technology details and passing them on to Hynix.

Samsung Electronics has overtaken Hewlett-Packard as the world's biggest technology company by sales, a sign of how strongly some South Korean companies have bounced back from the economic downturn.

Creditors rescued Hynix after it almost collapsed in 2001 under the weight of its debts. Spurred on by the company's strong turnround and a brighter outlook for the semiconductor sector, creditors have been anxious to sell to recoup their original investment worth US$4.6 billion.

Korea Exchange Bank has confirmed that the creditors of Hynix Semiconductor failed to receive any bids for their stake in the chip maker by the deadline.

A person familiar with the situation has told Dow Jones Newswires that the stake sale process hasn't been going well with no particular company showing an interest in the Hynix stake.

MoneyToday, citing unnamed industry sources, said that Samsung was expected to set this year's capital expenditure for the semiconductor business at about 7 trillion won (US$6.1 billion). The Korean vendor is also planning a new chip production line in its domestic plant, marking the first time in years that it would add a line.

"We are open to any country, not just the UAE, to invest in the company..."

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government is mulling plans to buy a stake in South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor, according to Dow Jones.

test's

South Korea's antitrust agency on Dec. 30, 2009 said it has found no evidence to back allegations that makers of flash memory chips were engaged in international price fixing, after investigating the issue for nearly three years.

Major South Korean exporters all got a nice boost from the weakness of the country's currency in the past two years. But with the Korean won gaining strength, will Korean exporters begin to lose some of the market share they accumulated in the past year?

Lee Kun-hee is to be pardoned so he can return to the International Olympics Committee and help South Korea's bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. The former chairman of Samsung was convicted of embezzlement and tax evasion.

"We have seen this in Japan in the 1980's. I certainly hope that China is not going to repeat the mistakes that Japan made 20-30 years ago," said Dong Tao, chief Asia economist of Credit Suisse.

Hynix Semiconductor has revised upward its capex budget for 2010 to 2.3 trillion won (US$1.95 billion), according to its company filing with the Korea Exchange. In October, it set a goal of more than 1.5 trillion won.

Korea Exchange Bank said on December 20 that the creditors of Hynix Semiconductor will send out invitations to Korean companies Monday (Dec. 21) to seek bids for their combined 28% stake in the chip maker.

The Korean government and private sector will jointly inject 58.4 billion won (US$50.5 million) over the next three years into building up the local semiconductor manufacturing equipment sector, according to government officials.

Samsung doesn't get it. The foundry sector is a service business. It has nothing to do with churning out cheap and simple commodities like memories.

South Korea's economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter of 2009, fuelling hopes that Asia's fourth-largest economy is making a solid recovery from the global downturn.

"The group's top decision makers have reached a broad consensus that more measures would be needed to nurture future growth engines. But that doesn't necessarily mean LG will participate in an auction next month," an LG representative said. Despite such internal views, market analysts say LG could be the "right buyer" for Hynix.

South Korea expects exports in 2010 to grow 12.9% from this year on a global economic recovery and imports to rise 21.5%, producing an estimated US$20 billion trade surplus, the government said.

KT, which will begin offering Apple's iPhones in Korea tomorrow (November 28), has said advance orders for the model exceeded 50,000 units as of November 26.

"Once the STT-MRAM is developed, South Korea may be able to control roughly 45% of the 30nm type memory chip market by 2015..."

"If there is no potential buyer this time, we will seek other measures to build a new structure of the company, on which all the stakeholders and interested parties can agree," according to the Korea Exchange Bank, the main creditor of Hynix.

Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), representing creditors, is planning to send out invitations for the auction to domestic companies between Nov. 25 and Dec. 15, its officials said. The action follows Hyosung Group's recent decision to scrap its bid to purchase Hynix.

South Korea's Hyosung has withdrawn its bid for Hynix Semiconductor, throwing the future of the world's second-largest memory chipmaker into doubt again.

Gross domestic product during the July-September period expanded 2.9% from the second quarter, according to the Bank of Korea. That was the most rapid pace since the first quarter of 2002.

South Korea and the EU did US$98.4 billion in trade in 2008 and officials hope the deal will spur a jump in commercial activity between the two sides.

South Korea must diversify its export markets in order to achieve a sustainable expansion of overseas shipments and prepare for the possibility of another global economic crisis, according to a government report.

Dongbu has begun shipping the display chip used in 19-inch computer monitors to LG Display. The contract will pave the way for us to strengthen our position as a display chip-focused manufacturer," a company spokesman Kwon Ki-joo has said.