To ensure the production of NAND and DRAM, Samsung and SK Hynix have taken measures to prevent the spread of the “epidemic” in South Korea.

As the epidemic continued to spread around the world, until 24:00 on March 4, a total of 5,328 cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection were confirmed in South Korea. At present, 92 countries and regions have adopted immigration control measures against South Korea. The epidemic also affected some South Korean company operation and factories.

At present, Daegu and Gyeongbuk are the hardest hit areas of the epidemic in South Korea. Samsung’s and LG’s factories production have been affected. Among them, employees at Samsung Electronics’ factory in Gumi have been confirmed patient again, which has caused the shutdown of factory production line several times. LG Display factories, LG Innotek, which supply iPhone camera modules, along with many other factories have also ceased production.

In order to prevent the expansion of the epidemic in South Korea, as well as its effect one the operation and production of factory lines in other regions, Samsung said it has strengthened its screening to assess whether its employees in Semiconductor Device Solutions are infected with the new coronavirus. All employees will submit a self-examination questionnaire every week and screen for fever and other symptoms.

According to the new screening results, Samsung confirmed that a subcontractor working at its Giheung factory was infected last weekend. Another worker at Samsung’s Gumi smartphone factory was also confirmed to be infected with the virus. In addition, Samsung also provided a total of 30 billion won in funding to respond to the epidemic and canceled the opening ceremony of the R&D center in Hanoi, Vietnam to avoid the risk of employee infection.

Samsung Semiconductor’s operating profit in 2019 is 14 trillion won, accounting for 50% total operating profit. Its annual investment is also the largest. The number of employees has exceeded 50,000. Moreover, the Samsung plant’s production lines are mainly located in South Korea and are distributed in Giheung and Huacheng, as well as the Pyeongtaek region, they mainly produce NAND Flash and DRAM. Currently, the factory production has not been affected.

Except from Samsung, the operation of the SK Hynix plant has also received much attention. SK Hynix said that the company has no confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in factories in South Korea and China, and its operations in Cheongju, Icheon, and Wuxi in mainland China were not affected by the epidemic. There is no plan to reduce DRAM and NAND Flash capacity.

According to China Flash Market data, in 2019 Samsung and SK Hynix accounted for 44% of the global NAND Flash market together. In the DRAM market, Samsung and SK Hynix accounted for 74% of the global market together. Samsung and SK Hynix are making every effort to ensure factory production, because the epidemic has already affected the global electronics manufacturing industry. If problems occur in core memory chip production, it will affect the global storage industry chain and strike the global consumer electronics industry chain, including mobile phones, PCs, etc.