Good operating profitability Strong customer relationships Growing end-application markets Highly leveraged industry Intense competition and fragmented market R&D intensive industry Limited access to domestic financing The rating on Korea-based MagnaChip Semiconductor LLC, the former nonmemory chip division of Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (B+/Stable/--), reflects the company's exposure to a highly competitive and fragmented market and its substantial debt burden. The company has a relatively good position within certain market segments with favorable growth prospects, strong customer relationships, and a good cost structure. MagnaChip faces severe competition from market giants, such as Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (A/Stable/A-1), NEC Corp. (BBB/Stable/A-2), and Toshiba Corp. (BBB/Watch Neg/A-2), which have substantial financing capabilities. Other competitors include companies with similar backgrounds in the DRAM segment that
