Samsung: No Jump in Memory Prices Expected

SEOUL (Reuters) - The head of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor division thinks the bottom has been reached in the long-suffering memory market but doesn't expect significant price rises for the moment, the company said.

"Given the many uncertainties generated by the subprime crisis and the events in China, we do not expect any big increases for a while," Kwon Oh-hyun, president of Samsung's semiconductor business, was quoted by Samsung as saying on Monday during a trip to Taiwan.

"But we are still aiming to reach 100 percent of our initial shipment targets," Kwon was also quoted as saying.

Kwon made his remarks on Monday on the fringes of a semiconductor event in Taiwan.

Samsung in April said it was aiming to boost its shipments of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips by 100 percent, a much faster pace than the industry average projection of 50-60 percent.

Shares in Samsung were up 2.95 percent at 699,000 won at 0112 GMT, against the wider market's 0.85 percent rise.

(Reporting by Marie-France Han, Editing by Keiron Henderson)