Hynix Semiconductor said on Wednesday its quarterly loss widened, hit by a slump in the memory-chip prices, as it reaffirmed it would shed non-core assets following stiff penalty duties imposed by key trading partners. Analysts are betting the troubled South Korean firm’s performance bottomed out in the second quarter, although warned its attempts to return to health have been put further in doubt due to stiff penalties from US and EU authorities for alleged dumping.

The European Union decided on Tuesday to impose definitive anti-dumping duties of 34.8 percent on shipments of Hynix memory chips after the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed a final import duty of almost 45% (44.71%, to be exact) in June. Hynix, the world’s third-largest maker of memory chips, reported a loss of 530.2 billion won ($450 million) for the three months ended June 30, compared with a loss of 417.6 billion won ($353.97 million) a year ago.

“Demand for DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips during the second quarter was depressed due to the stagnant economic conditions caused by Iraq war and the SARS outbreak in China,” Hynix said in a statement. DRAM chips account for some 80% of Hynix total annual sales.

The poor results set the tone for the fourth consecutive yearly losses in 2003. Weak PC demand caused by the global economic slowdown forced major chip makers to slash chip prices in the second quarter to push products out the door. Rattled by a prolonged slump in chip prices, major memory chip makers have splashed red ink for the past couple of years except for the industry leader Samsung Electronics Co, which, however, also said second-quarter net profit slumped 41%. German chip maker Infineon Technologies AG posted its ninth straight quarter of losses last month and the US-based rival Micron Technology reported a wider quarterly shortfall.