As Korea’s two main chipmakers prepare to announce their earnings for the third quarter of this year, expectations are rising that SK Hynix may surpass Samsung Electronics in operating profit within the semiconductor sector.

SK hynix and Samsung Electronics will each announce their third-quarter earnings by the end of this month. Before announcing fixed numbers, Samsung will provide an earnings guidance on Tuesday.

The market consensus for SK Hynix’s operating profit in the third quarter has reached 6.76 trillion won ($5 billion), with revenue expected to be around 17.99 trillion won during the same period. If these estimates closely align with actual figures, the company is likely to achieve a record high in quarterly operating profit, despite the negative outlook for the global memory chip market.

Samsung Electronics does not disclose detailed figures for each business division in its earnings guidance. The company’s device solutions (DS) division, which oversees the memory chip business, will likely account for more than 50 percent of Samsung Electronics’ overall operating profit.

In light of this, the market anticipates that Samsung Electronics will report an overall operating profit of 10.77 trillion won in the third quarter, with the operating profit of its Device Solutions (DS) division expected to fall between 5.2 trillion won and 6.3 trillion won.

This suggests that SK hynix may outpace Samsung Electronics in operating profit by a margin between 400 billion won and 1.5 trillion won, dealing a blow to Samsung’s long-time reputation as the world’s largest memory chip company.

The numbers fuel anticipation that SK hynix may overtake Samsung in annual operating profit.

In the first half of this year, Samsung Electronics’ DS division was ahead of SK hynix by about 1 trillion won in operating profit. However, analysts are expecting that SK hynix will 커뮤니티 likely accumulate 23 trillion won of operating profit by the end of this year, while that of Samsung’s DS may remain at between 19.5 trillion won and 22.4 trillion won.

The possible upset is attributed to the company’s industry-leading high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chip business. HBM is an advanced DRAM chip that powers artificial intelligence (AI), and SK Hynix is the largest supplier for Nvidia, a leading AI processor manufacturer.

“As SK Hynix continues to pursue profitability strategies, the rising shipments of eight-layer HBM3e are expected to drive a notable increase in the company’s DRAM average selling price,” SK Securities analyst Han Dong-hee said.

“The share of HBM within the company’s DRAM revenue is expected to have surpassed 30 percent, and this is propelling the company to post the new high in its quarterly earnings.”

SK hynix has been supplying eight-layer HBM3e chips to Nvidia since March and recently began mass production of 12-layer HBM3e chips. During its conference call for the second quarter earnings in July, SK hynix said the company is “expecting a 300 percent or higher growth in its HBM business this year.”

Samsung Electronics is also manufacturing HBM3e chips, but Nvidia is reportedly still testing Samsung products. SK hynix is leading the global HBM market with a 53 percent market share, followed by Samsung with 38 percent as of last year, according to market tracker TrendForce.

HBMs are approximately three to five times more expensive than general DRAM products, thus ensuring greater profitability for SK hynix. In the second quarter, the company’s operating profit margin stood at 33 percent, outpacing that of Samsung with 22.6 percent.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will lift a curfew and implement a revised pay system and regulations for Filipino caregivers starting this month. The decision follows a pilot program that highlighted several issues over the past two months, including two caregivers being absent without permission.

The two, who had been out of contact after leaving their accommodation on Sept. 15, were detained in Busan, Friday. They now face deportation under relevant laws concerning illegal stay.

According to the city government, Sunday, officials have held meetings with representatives from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, partner companies, and the nannies to address issues related to the project. This initiative is part of a key policy introduced by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon to help boost Korea’s low birthrate by alleviating childcare burdens.

They decided to remove the curfew that prohibited caregivers from leaving their shared accommodation after 10 p.m. While the partner agencies had implemented the curfew and monitored the return of the caregivers, the workers expressed their dissatisfaction, saying they are adults capable of deciding how to spend their time.

Other notable changes include allowing workers the option to receive their wages twice a month instead of once and permitting them to continue working in Korea after a six-month 추천 trial period, unless there is a significant reason not to. Additionally, commuting distances will be taken into account when coordinating work schedules for those who work part-time at two or more households.

“We made those changes after collecting opinions from the foreign workers and others involved in the program and observing some areas that have room for improvement,” said Kim Sun-soon, head of the city government’s policy division for gender equality and family.

The announcement follows the decision to deport two of the 100 Filipino workers who violated Korea’s immigration laws and the work contracts they signed with the city government for their job opportunities in the capital.

According to Korea’s immigration office in Busan, the women were detained in the southern port city on Friday after failing to turn up for work since Sept. 15.

The two workers were confirmed to be employed by the owner of an accommodation facility in Busan’s Yeonje District. It is believed they were offered higher wages than the legal minimum wage of 9,860 won ($7.30) per hour for caregivers.

Under the Immigration Control Law, foreign workers could be deported for failing to comply with visa rules — a change of job without permission, in this case.

Violators could be banned from entering Korea for a certain period and could be required to submit extra documents to obtain a permit of entry after that period.

To prevent similar incidents, city officials vowed to strengthen their partnership with the Philippine Embassy in Korea, which sent its representative to the accommodation facility on Sept. 28 to warn the workers of possible consequences of breaking that law.

The Korea Times tried to reach the embassy for comments regarding the rule changes and the two workers facing deportation, but officials were unavailable for a response.

This development occurs at a critical time as officials from both the city and central governments work to promote the program as an effective solution for working parents wishing to have children. After the pilot phase, they plan to expand the initiative into a nationwide project, issuing E-9 visas to an additional 1,200 individuals from the Philippines to provide caregiving services in 2025.

So far, government officials have been struggling to garner extensive support for the project. Many households complain that the program is unaffordable, and for that reason and others, 24 households have canceled their contracts midway, while the workers say they feel restricted by some unreasonable rules such as the curfew.

As of Sunday, 98 Filipino caregivers were employed by 169 households as full-time or part-time workers, according to the city government and the ministry.

North Korea again launched trash balloons toward South Korea early Monday, the South’s military said, just three days after a similar launch last week.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff raised the possibility of the balloons floating toward northern Gyeonggi Province and other parts of the Seoul metropolitan area, advising 스포츠 citizens not to touch them and to be careful of balloons potentially dropping.

Since late May, the North has sent more than 5,000 balloons across the border toward South Korea over 25 occasions. In its previous launch on Friday, the North sent some 320 balloons.

South Korea’s military has vowed to take “stern” military measures should North Korea “cross the line” with its ongoing trash balloon campaign or inflict serious damage to the South Korean people.

In response to the balloon launches, the South’s military has been blasting daily anti-North Korean propaganda broadcasts through loudspeakers along the border since July 21. It has refrained from directly shooting down the balloons, citing safety concerns

A government-commissioned report saying that the health risk of paper straws is worse than plastic ones is creating confusion among Korea’s food and beverage businesses, according to industry officials on Sunday.

Domestic paper straw makers have received criticism following the report. However, they alleged that the report only cited a foreign study and is irrelevant to their products.

The report’s impact has spread to consumers and straw-using businesses that have been using paper straws for their advertised biodegradability and eco-friendliness.

After the report was released early last month, paper straw makers have seen their sales slow down.

Nuridaon, based in Seocheon, South Chungcheong Province, hasn’t been able to sell its currently stocked 25 million paper straws worth 300 million won ($222,000).

Nuridaon, which has been certified safe by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and has even exported to Australia, said its manufacturing process had been certified for safety domestically and overseas.

Nuridaon isn’t the only Korean paper straw manufacturer with foreign credentials. Lee&B acquired one from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Seoil from TUV Austria.

Seoil Vice President Park Jae-il said that Korean paper straws have been sold to global enterprises.

“Global companies like Nestle, Danone, Coca-Cola, 한국을 Pepsi, Burger King and McDonald’s are using made-in-Korea paper straws,” Park said. “Our products have earned global trust. We urge (consumers in Korea) to trust our products as well.”

The setback on domestic paper straw producers came following the report that said chemical coating on paper straws is more environmentally hazardous than plastic straws.

The report, jointly written by consulting firm Ecofill Plus and Anyang University’s industry-academe cooperation department, said paper straws generated more carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, phosphate and dichlorobenzene than plastic straws when incinerated or buried underground.