Weak memory chip prices have increased losses at South Korea's struggling chipmaker, Hynix. The financially-challenged firm racked up losses of 530.2bn won ($450m; �270m) in the three months which ended in June.
That is a 27% larger loss than suffered during the same three months a year earlier, dashing hopes that the semiconductor industry is on the road to recovery.
Hynix blamed the Iraq war and the Sars outbreak in China for a slump in demand for personal computers, forcing it to dramatically cut chip prices.
Despite the widening loss, Hynix is once again predicting that it is over the worst and said its cost structure is improving.
However, its return to financial health is likely to be hindered by Tuesday's announcement that the EU and US will slap additional import tariffs on its memory chips.
Hynix, meanwhile, has vowed to protect itself by widening its portfolio of chips away from its core memory product that are used in PCs.
One-Minute World News 
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