[THE INVESTOR] SK hynix plans to spin off its foundry business unit in July with aims to strengthen its contract chip manufacturing business and attract more outside clients, industry sources said on April 27.

The company recently held a meeting with foundry division employees and explained about the planned spin-off. 

After approval from board members, the new entity, tentatively named SK hynix System IC, will be set up on July 1.

Following the spin-off, SK hynix will focus more on its own chip business consisting of memory chips and other high-end sensors.

Currently, the contract chip manufacturing market is largely dominated by top two players -- Samsung Electronics and Taiwan’s TSMC. The business is gaining renewed attention on the soaring demand for diverse chips for the Internet of Things technology that connects all machines via the internet.

SK hynix’s foundry business division recorded 120 billion won (US$106.10 million) in sales last year, less than 1 percent of its entire revenue of 17.2 trillion won.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)