SEOUL, July 24 (Reuters) - South Korean chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor Inc (000660.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it would suspend production at its U.S. plant and consider selling the facility, as the memory chip industry suffers a prolonged slump.
Hynix, the world's No. 2 maker of memory chips trailing home rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said in a statement that the decision is to speed up its migration into facilities using larger and more productive 12-inch wafers. The U.S. plant, located in Eugene, Oregon, uses 8-inch silicon wafers.
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AP EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Hynix Semiconductor Inc. told state officials it will close its Eugene memory-chip plant and lay off more than 1,100 workers.
Hynix CEO Kim Jong-kap said the closure was based on the chip industry's move to larger, more efficient 300-millimeter silicon wafers instead of the 200-millimeter wafers made at the Eugene plant, The Register-Guard and Oregonian newspapers reported Wednesday.

By KVAL Web Staff EUGENE, Ore. - A Korean semiconductor manufacturer that employs more than 1,100 people in Eugene plans to cease production in the next two months, according to Mayor Kitty Piercy, who met with the company chairman today.
Hynix chairman Jong-Kap Kim (at left) met with Oregon's governor, Ted Kulongoski, today in Salem before meeting with Eugene city officials and the president of the University of Oregon this afternoon and evening.
he mayor, but the company issued a press release at 4:55 p.m.

Hynix is closing its Eugene plant and will lay off its 1113 employees over the next two months, sources within state government said today after the