[Exclusive] SK Hynix Subsidiary 'Solidigm' Closes Domestic Office

Solidigm Reports Earnings Decline Due to NAND Market Slump
Reduces Overseas Offices Including Korea to Cut Workforce
"Will Reduce Overlapping Costs Through Organizational Streamlining"

Solidigm, the US subsidiary of SK Hynix, has reportedly laid off all its domestic staff. Facing difficulties due to the semiconductor market downturn, the company has tightened its belt by withdrawing from global branches.

According to our investigation on the 8th, Solidigm recently closed its Korean office and laid off its domestic workforce. This was part of shutting down smaller global offices, including the Korean branch. Instead, domestic product sales will be conducted through general distributors.

Solidigm is the former Intel NAND flash business unit acquired by SK Hynix in 2021. Headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California, it operates globally. Its main product is enterprise solid-state drives (SSD) used in data centers. SSDs are large-capacity auxiliary storage devices equipped with NAND flash memory.

Exterior view of the Solidigm R&D building in Rancho Cordova, California, USA /
[Photo by Solidigm]

Solidigm's performance sharply declined this year due to the NAND market slump. The first half sales of the US NAND corporation (NAND Product Solutions Group), including Solidigm, were 1.2739 trillion KRW, down 53.6% from 2.7455 trillion KRW in the first half of last year. Net losses also surged from 258.3 billion KRW to 2.2423 trillion KRW during the same period. This is the reason behind the workforce reduction.

An SK Hynix official explained, "In July, due to the worsening NAND market conditions, we reduced staff and also closed the Korean office, which had a small number of employees, for operational efficiency." Solidigm also laid off 98 employees, which is 10% of its headquarters staff, during this process.

The semiconductor cold wave must be endured until the end of this year. Market research firm Omdia forecasts the NAND market size this year to be $43.229 billion, a 7.2% decrease from last year. The SSD market is also expected to shrink by 41.48% this year, reaching a scale of $18.199 billion. Concerns are rising that the NAND market downturn may last longer than that of DRAM, prompting major companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to announce plans to increase NAND production cuts.

SK Hynix plans to overcome the NAND market slump by enhancing synergy with Solidigm. After announcing its second-quarter results, the company stated in a conference call, "We plan to integrate the individual capabilities of SK Hynix NAND and Solidigm and reduce overlapping costs through organizational streamlining."