Affected by the reduction in imports of Samsung Electronics SK Hynix, South Korea's imports of wafers from Japan dropped sharply compared with the same period last year.

February 13 news, according to foreign media reports, under the influence of the decline in demand for consumer electronic products, chip manufacturers also reduced their shipments in the second half of last year, especially memory chip manufacturers, both shipments and prices declined.

Fewer shipments from chip makers mean less demand for key components such as wafers.

The latest foreign media reports show that South Korea's imports of wafers from Japan fell to $203 million (currently about 1.382 billion yuan) in the fourth quarter of last year, down 26.66 percent from a year earlier, affected by reduced imports by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, two major memory chip makers.

Foreign media reported that due to the deterioration of market conditions, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix inventory is increasing rapidly, the current inventory level has been more than 20 weeks, much higher than their usual 5-6 weeks.

In the face of high inventory and low market demand, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are also reducing wafer imports and production to control inventory.

Of course, against the backdrop of declining global demand for memory chips, other major manufacturers are also cutting production. According to foreign media reports, other memory chip makers that are reducing production also include Meguiar, Leather Man and Western Digital. Meguiar has decided to reduce its production to 80 per cent of last year, and the armor has cut production by 30 per cent since October.

As major memory chip manufacturers cut production, their demand for wafers is bound to decrease, and so will the supply of relevant wafer manufacturers.