Solid market position in the DRAM industry. Good cost position. Large debt levels. Intense competition. Rapid evolution of technology. High capital investments. The rating on Hynix Semiconductor Inc. reflects positive expectations for the normalization of Hynix's operations following the early end to the workout plan, in addition to the company's greatly improved debt maturity profile upon refinancing of bank debt. The company has a solid position in the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) industry and a good cost position. However, these strengths are offset by the semiconductor industry's extremely challenging operating environment: specifically, the notoriously cyclical and capital-intensive nature of the industry and severe pricing pressures, particularly on commodity-like products like DRAM, from which Hynix derives the bulk of its
