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Fire at Hynix DRAM focused factory (40-50% of Hynix's DRAM output, supply ok)

W

Wind's Howling

Member
wizzbang said:
You people are living in some kind of magical fantasy land. These factories are not little $20 million dollar ventures. If they can't produce they can't produce, period.

Breach of contract? Oh well! shit happens, very sorry. They can't magically grow the chips.
We just better hope it's not the GDDR5 section of production or a primary facility.
Click to expand...

You are defending your post with a ''Can't produce'' but that is not what this is about. You somewhat made it look like that the 15% increase cost of chipsets will affect Sony as well, and that is why people reacted that a manufacturer just can not up the price against companies they made a deal and signed a contract with.
 
SHADES

SHADES

Member
Hope no one was hurt.

If say Sony were using them for GDDR5 wouldn't launch supplies already be shipped to Foxconn for final assembly? Shouldn't think it would affect launch numbers tbh.

Also, some one post the Denzel/Kaz boom.gif
 
W

Wind's Howling

Member
Anyone who were going to wait to buy an SSD for the PS4 in the hopes the prices are down should better buy one now. Prices are going to get ridiculously high next year, and it might take up until 2015 before it becomes affordable again.
 
P

PotionBleue

Member
“Some people are still trapped in the workshop. Rescue efforts are continuing,”

Aww. Reading this thread makes it look like people care more about their consoles/SSD/RAM than the workers. Not sure if they've even been mentioned.
 
D

DieH@rd

Banned
A massive fire broke out this afternoon (local time), at a SK Hynix production facility in Wuxi, China. At this moment, pictures and videos of the fire are swarming through local social networks, and there are no official announcements by either the local authorities, or the company itself. Incidentally, this isn't the first fire accident at an SK Hynix manufacturing facility, a Korea-based fab suffered one in February 2008. The facility hit by fire is rumored to be one that handles packaging (placing bumped dies inside ceramic or plastic shells, and labeling them). If the extant of damage to the facility is high, it might affect NAND flash prices more than DRAM, since the company recently prioritized NAND flash over DRAM for the facility.
http://www.techpowerup.com/190121/massive-fire-at-sk-hynix-facility-in-wuxi-china.html

SSD prices are gonna explode it seems.
 
B

Bsigg12

Member
SHADES said:
Hope no one was hurt.

If say Sony were using them for GDDR5 wouldn't launch supplies already be shipped to Foxconn for final assembly? Shouldn't think it would affect launch numbers tbh.

Also, some one post the Denzel/Kaz boom.gif
Click to expand...

It's not a one and done kind of thing, they are always rolling it out.
 
L

LTWheels

Member
Rivyn said:
Does not matter for Sony.

Every company has the manufacturer sign a contract that gives bulks of chipsets for a steady price. They can not up towards 15% and demand more cash from Sony. That is called a breach of contract if they do.
Click to expand...

Depending on the cause of the fire it could come under a force majeure clause or even covered by insurance.
 
G

GodofWine

Member
wizzbang said:
Breach of contract? Oh well! shit happens, very sorry. They can't magically grow the chips.
We just better hope it's not the GDDR5 section of production or a primary facility.
Click to expand...

There is a difference in not being able to ship due to production issues...and saying "we are going to increase your price because ha ha ha we can now since we burnt the place down".

The former is likely covered by a force majeur clause and sony has to just live with it until production ramps up(though they likely get preferential treatment) and the latter is contract breach and would do more to damage the sellers business relationship with its biggest customer than its worth in short term revenue.

Sonys supplychain people probably have this all figured out by now anyway (if it even touched them at all).
 
O

Osiris

I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
flyinpiranha said:
Well, just because they are "prioritizing" doesn't mean that the facility has completely switched. It could have went from a 55/45 to a 45/55 priority. Nobody really knows.

I would assume this would be a smaller blip as this can't be the only factory they have, even for this particular manufacturer.
Click to expand...

The sources quote that it's effectively 50% of their total production capacity. For a manufacturer responsible for 30% of all worldwide DRAM production.

That's 15% of the total worldwide DRAM production gone overnight, not trivial.
 
V

Varth

Member
tinfoilhat

If Sony is really supplied by them, I wouldn't really be surprised if this turns out to be arson and not an accident. Purely from a pratical standpoint, this comes out as one of the most effective ways one could deal a blow to its competition two months before starting a multibillion dollar war that seems to be uphill.

/tinfoilhat
 
Q

QaaQer

Member
Varth said:
tinfoilhat

If Sony is really supplied by them, I wouldn't really be surprised if this turns out to be arson and not an accident. Purely from a pratical standpoint, this comes out as one of the most effective ways one could deal a blow to its competition two months before starting a multibillion dollar war that seems to be uphill.

/tinfoilhat
Click to expand...

umm no. Disgruntled suicidal employee? maybe. Bullshit safety standards? most likey. MS Black Ops? No.
 
G

gruenel

Member
Varth said:
tinfoilhat

If Sony is really supplied by them, I wouldn't really be surprised if this turns out to be arson and not an accident. Purely from a pratical standpoint, this comes out as one of the most effective ways one could deal a blow to its competition two months before starting a multibillion dollar war that seems to be uphill.

/tinfoilhat
Click to expand...

Ridiculous.
 
M

maabus1999

Member
SHADES said:
Hope no one was hurt.

If say Sony were using them for GDDR5 wouldn't launch supplies already be shipped to Foxconn for final assembly? Shouldn't think it would affect launch numbers tbh.

Also, some one post the Denzel/Kaz boom.gif
Click to expand...

If there was a supply issue, Launch and the first few months should be ok. Past say December, it would be noticeable.

Have to wait and see. Bloomberg is stating this was still a major facility for producing DRAM, and both FABs got damaged it seems. On top of that, Hynix is one (if not currently the only one) of the few making chips that would work for an 8 GB setup in the PS4.

And even if they aren't, worldwide supply will shrink, so even though Sony has a pricing contract, they still have reduced supply to purchase. And they will be going head to head versus Apple for supply possibly. Sony will most likely lose that one if it occurs.

If it is GDDR5, then Apple, Nvidia, and possibly Sony will be unhappy for months (It will take at least 6+ months for another factory to be retooled if this by chance was the one making GDDR5 of the correct size).

Just hope that A.) There remains no casualties as the story states, and B.) GDDR5 disruption is minimal.
 
M

Moral Panic

Member
Rivyn said:
You are defending your post with a ''Can't produce'' but that is not what this is about. You somewhat made it look like that the 15% increase cost of chipsets will affect Sony as well, and that is why people reacted that a manufacturer just can not up the price against companies they made a deal and signed a contract with.
Click to expand...

I don't know what contract Sony signed but many contracts allow for price increases in certain circumstances (up to a max). This might allow Sony to cancel the contract but, it's not like they can go anywhere else. It's certainly not impossible that Sony could see price increases.
 
C

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Terrible news regardless of the new consoles. Hopefully the damage isn't too severe and prices level back out relatively quickly, but if the flood and subsequent HDD pricing is any indication manufacturers will probably take advantage of this to keep prices up as long as they possibly can.
 
W

Wind's Howling

Member
Moral Panic said:
I don't know what contract Sony signed but many contracts allow for price increases in certain circumstances (up to a max). This might allow Sony to cancel the contract but, it's not like they can go anywhere else. It's certainly not impossible that Sony could see price increases.
Click to expand...

You would think that Sony made a contract that is beneficial for both companies and where Sony has a locked price for their chipsets. You are talking about millions upon millions of consoles here, not making such a contract would be very unwise for them.
 
M

maabus1999

Member
Moral Panic said:
I don't know what contract Sony signed but many contracts allow for price increases in certain circumstances (up to a max). This might allow Sony to cancel the contract but, it's not like they can go anywhere else. It's certainly not impossible that Sony could see price increases.
Click to expand...

Force Majure and other similar clauses.

This is something outside of the control of the contract, but I think it would effect supply offered more than price (though it may still go up like you stated).
 
SHADES

SHADES

Member
maabus1999 said:
If there was a supply issue, Launch and the first few months should be ok. Past say December, it would be noticeable.

Have to wait and see. Bloomberg is stating this was still a major facility for producing DRAM, and both FABs got damaged it seems. On top of that, Hynix is one (if not currently the only one) of the few making chips that would work for an 8 GB setup in the PS4.

And even if they aren't, worldwide supply will shrink, so even though Sony has a pricing contract, they still have reduced supply to purchase. And they will be going head to head versus Apple for supply possibly. Sony will most likely lose that one if it occurs.

If it is GDDR5, then Apple, Nvidia, and possibly Sony will be unhappy for months (It will take at least 6+ months for another factory to be retooled if this by chance was the one making GDDR5 of the correct size).

Just hope that A.) There remains no casualties as the story states, and B.) GDDR5 disruption is minimal.
Click to expand...


True, fingers crossed for the best possible outcome.
 
Z

Z3M0G

Member
nib95 said:
Just when SSDs were starting to get affordable...
Click to expand...

Huh? What's the connection?

(Sorry, I know nothing about these things.)

Edit: oh...

DieH@rd said:
A massive fire broke out this afternoon (local time), at a SK Hynix production facility in Wuxi, China. At this moment, pictures and videos of the fire are swarming through local social networks, and there are no official announcements by either the local authorities, or the company itself. Incidentally, this isn't the first fire accident at an SK Hynix manufacturing facility, a Korea-based fab suffered one in February 2008. The facility hit by fire is rumored to be one that handles packaging (placing bumped dies inside ceramic or plastic shells, and labeling them). If the extant of damage to the facility is high, it might affect NAND flash prices more than DRAM, since the company recently prioritized NAND flash over DRAM for the facility.
http://www.techpowerup.com/190121/massive-fire-at-sk-hynix-facility-in-wuxi-china.html

SSD prices are gonna explode it seems.
Click to expand...
 
D

DBT85

Member
I do hope that everyone is ok.

I then hope that this won't screw up either either next gen launch + 6 months too bad, our worse, one of them.

Where do Nintendo get ram for the WiiU?


Might have a look at some SSDs now.
 
Q

QaaQer

Member
NANJING, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- One person has been slightly injured after a factory workshop in east China's Jiangsu Province caught fire on Wednesday afternoon, local authorities said.

The fire broke out at 3:30 p.m. in a workshop of SK Hynix Semiconductor Company (China) in Wuxi City. Witnesses told of dense smoke coming from the building.

The nature of the injury sustained by the person are not currently known, although another dozen people are receiving respiratory checks in hospital, according to a statement from the Wuxi municipal government's information office.

The fire has been put out as of 6 p.m., it said, adding that local environmental authorities have begun tests on the condition of the environment and air quality after the fire.

Founded in 1983, SK Hynix Semiconductor Inc., parent company of Wuxi company, is a memory semiconductor supplier of the Republic of Korea. It is the world's second-largest memory chip maker and the world's sixth-largest semiconductor company.

Further investigation into the cause of the fire is under way.
Click to expand...

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-09/04/c_132692082.htm

Official Version, CPC approved
 
O

Osiris

I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
Z3M0G said:
Huh? What's the connection?

(Sorry, I know nothing about these things.)
Click to expand...

Hynix produces a lot of the NAND Flash that is inside SSD's.

Not only is production now lowered, but the other suppliers will now increase their prices to reflect the reduced supply for the same amount of demand, simple market economics.
 
M

maabus1999

Member
Here is a Bloomberg link to the story:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...-computer-memory-chip-factory-after-fire.html

About 2 hours old, they mention no casualties yet and that the plant is shut down from a phone interview with a PR executive.

They also mention this plant about the plant: "The factory makes dynamic random-access memory chips for mobile phones and personal computers."

So while there is a source about converting the plant to NAND, that may have been in progress or just one of the FABs?

Have to wait and see here.
 
F

frankie_baby

Member
DBT85 said:
I do hope that everyone is ok.

I then hope that this won't screw up either either next gen launch + 6 months too bad, our worse, one of them.

Where do Nintendo get ram for the WiiU?


Might have a look at some SSDs now.
Click to expand...

Nintendo get some from hynix some from Samsung
 
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