South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor Inc announced a 83.2-per-cent drop in fourth-quarter net profit Thursday, blaming a fall in demand for memory chips from computer manufacturers, and a lost lawsuit, according to dpa. The world's number two manufacturer of computer chips said net profit was 110.1 billion won (98.7 million dollars) for the last three months of 2010, down from 656.8 billion won a year earlier. "Net income [for the quarter] was negatively impacted by net interest expense and non-operating expense, mainly from the lost legal case," the statement said. Hynix paid 160.7 billion won to Hyundai Securities Co in December after losing a patent infringement case against the company. Sales for the quarter were 2.75 trillion won, slightly down year-on-year from 2.8 trillion won. Operating profit for October to December was 418 billion won, down 41 per cent from 708 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2009. But revenues for the year jumped 53 per cent to a new record, the company said in a statement. "The [year's] figures of sales, operating profit and net income are the highest records thanks to the generation-ahead technology leadership and profitable product portfolio," the statement said. For the year, net profit was 2.66 trillion won, up from a net loss of 333 billion won in 2009. Revenue for 2010 reached 12.1 trillion won, up from 7.91 trillion won the previous year. Operating profit was 3.27 trillion won, up well more than tenfold from 192 billion won.
