Samsung halts chip production after power failure

SEOUL -- An electrical problem at a Samsung factory Friday forced a partial halt in production at the world's largest memory chipmaker, the company said, raising prospects of a temporary global shortage.

A spark in an electrical transformer led to a power failure on six chip-making lines at a plant near Seoul, spokeswoman Lee Soo-jeong said. Five of the lines make memory chips and one makes chips for other functions, she said.

Samsung is the world's largest producer of memory chips for use in computers, digital music players and other devices.

Analysts said the suspension of Samsung's chip lines could lead to a shortage of NAND flash memory chips, which are able to retain data even when they are unpowered. Samsung's misfortune could give a boost to its South Korean rival Hynix Semiconductor and Japan's Toshiba.

However, Lee, the spokeswoman, said Samsung expects to have all the lines back up and running in 1-2 days. Total losses to the company from the shutdown will be about 50 billion Korean won ($54 million), she said.