Inventory of South Korean semiconductor enterprises hit a new high, with the total inventory approaching 50 trillion won.

CTOnews.com May 18 news, according to South Korea's News 1 news agency, due to the continued downturn in sales, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Eastern Hi-Tech by the end of the first quarter of 2023, the total inventory of semiconductors has been close to 50 trillion won (currently about 261.5 billion yuan), the highest inventory in history.

▲ East Tech Fuchuan Fab1, photo source: East Tech website News 1 pointed out that Samsung's inventory assets in the first quarter of 2023 were about 54.4 trillion won, an increase of 14.3% over the same period last year. Among them, Samsung Semiconductor has the largest amount of products in the warehouse, reaching 31.9 trillion won (currently about 166.837 billion yuan), an increase of 69.9 percent over the same period last year. SK Hynix also faces the plight of high inventories, with inventories of about 17.1 trillion won (currently about 89.433 billion yuan) in the first quarter, up 9.7 per cent from a month earlier and 65.3 per cent from a year earlier.

In addition, South Korea's second largest wafer foundry East Hi-Tech inventory in the first quarter of 75.3 billion won (currently about 394 million yuan), a month-on-month increase of 2.1%. According to CTOnews.com, the total inventory of semiconductor products from the three manufacturers has approached 50 trillion won (currently about 261.5 billion yuan), of which about 20 trillion won (currently about 104.6 billion yuan) has increased in the last 12 months. Samsung said it would deal with the inventory dilemma by increasing its investment. In the first quarter, Samsung Semiconductor's capital expenditure was about 9.7 trillion won (currently about 50.731 billion yuan), an increase of nearly 40% over the same period last year.