【为什么通货膨胀如此难以控制？这可能与企业逐利有关。】

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Inflation has proved more stubborn than central banks bargained for when prices started surging two years ago. Now some economists think they know why: Businesses are using a rare opportunity to boost their profit margins.

通胀比两年前价格飙升时央行所预料的更为顽固。现在一些经济学家认为他们知道原因了：企业正在利用难得的机会提高他们的利润率。

Figures released Tuesday by the European unx’s statistics agency showed consumer prices in the eurozone were 7.0% higher than a year earlier in April, a pickup from March and more than three times the European Central Bank’s target. However, the core rate of inflation—which excludes food and energy prices—edged down to 5.6% in April from a record high of 5.7% in March.

周二欧盟统计局公布的数据显示，欧元区消费者价格指数比去年4月份高出7.0％，较3月份有所加速，超过欧洲央行的目标三倍以上。然而，除了食品和能源价格之外的核心通胀率在4月份从历史最高水平5.7％微降至5.6％。
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Inflation rates also remain uncomfortably high in the U.S. and many other parts of the world despite interest-rate rises that have gone further and been delivered more quickly than at any time since the 1980s.

尽管自上世纪80年代以来利率上涨得更远、更快，但美国和世界许多地区的通胀率仍然令人不安。

There have been good reasons for businesses to raise their prices in recent months. The supply-chain disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy, food and raw-material bottlenecks that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have pushed costs higher.

近几个月来，企业有充分的理由提高价格。新冠疫情造成的供应链干扰，以及俄罗斯入侵乌克兰后出现的能源、食品和原材料供应瓶颈，综合在一起推高了企业的生产成本。
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But there are signs that companies are doing more than covering their costs.

然而有迹象表明，企业正在做的不仅仅是覆盖成本。

According to economists at the ECB, businesses have been padding their profits. That, they said, was a bigger factor in fueling inflation during the second half of last year than rising wages were.

欧洲央行的经济学家称，企业的利润一直在增加。这些经济学家表示，与工资上涨相比，这是去年下半年加剧通胀更重要的一个因素。

Jan Philipp Jenisch, chief executive of construction-materials maker Holcim, said on a recent earnings call: “We are in that inflationary environment already for almost two years now…We have done the pricing in a very proactive way, so that our results aren’t suffering. On the contrary, they are improving the margins.”

建筑材料制造商豪瑞公司首席执行官Jan Philipp Jenisch在最近一次财报电话会议上称：“我们身处这种通胀环境已经将近两年了......我们以一种非常先发制人的方式进行了定价，这样我们的业绩并没有受到影响。不仅如此，这些做法正在改善我们的利润率。”

One puzzle is why consumers have played ball. Usually, economists would expect any business that raised its prices to lose customers to competitors that don’t, or not by as much.

一个令人费解的问题是，为何消费者会接受价格上涨。经济学家通常认为，任何提价的企业都会拱手将客户相让给那些不提价或者提价幅度较小的竞争对手。

But these aren’t normal times. In rare situations—such as an economy’s reopening after a pandemic—widespread knowledge that costs are rising allows businesses to raise their prices knowing that their competitors will act in the same way, according to a paper by Isabella Weber, assistant professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and her colleague, Evan Wasner.

但现在与平时不可同日而语。根据马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校经济学助理教授Isabella Weber和她同事Evan Wasner撰写的一篇论文，在极少数情况下——比如经济在疫情之后重新开放——人们普遍意识到成本正在上升，这让企业能够提高价格，因其知道竞争对手也会以同样方式应对。

That is a pattern the two economists said has played out in an analysis of recent earning calls in which executives at U.S. businesses present their financial results to analysts.

这两位经济学家表示，对最近美国企业高管向分析师介绍财务业绩的电话会议所做的分析就体现出了这种模式。

“We do have to think about pricing differently,” said Ms. Weber. “A cost shock, or bottlenecks can create an implicit agreement among firms that raise their prices, so they can expect others to act likewise.”

“我们确实必须对定价问题有不同的思考，” Weber说。“成本冲击或种种瓶颈会让提价的公司心照不宣”，因为他们会预计其他公司也会采取类似行动。"

Consumers have also been unusually willing to accept higher prices lately. Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, said businesses are betting that consumers will go along because they know about supply bottlenecks and higher energy prices.

消费者最近对提价的接受度也格外高。瑞银全球财富管理首席经济学家Paul Donovan表示，企业正押注于消费者会逆来顺受，因为他们知道存在供应瓶颈且能源价格上涨。

“They are confident that they can convince consumers that it isn’t their fault, and it won’t damage their brand,” Mr. Donovan said.

Donovan说：“企业有把握让消费者相信，错不在企业，企业的品牌也不会受损。”

The latest round of earning calls by large consumer-facing companies underlined that. Food and health company Nestlé last week said it had boosted sales by 5.6% in the first three months of the year despite raising its prices by 9.8%—its CEO said the company was simply matching cost increases over the previous two years.

消费品巨头的最近一轮财报电话会议凸显了这一点。食品和保健品公司雀巢公司上周表示，今年前三个月销售额增长5.6%，尽管产品价格上调了9.8%。雀巢首席执行官施奈德表示，该公司这么做只是为了匹配前两年的成本上升。

“We’re still in the process of catching up with some of the hits we’ve taken,” said Mark Schneider in a call with analysts.

施奈德在分析师电话会议上表示：“我们目前仍在消化已经遭受的一些冲击。”
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Elsewhere, the desire to boost margins, rather than just cover increased costs, appears to be one reason why food prices have continued to rise rapidly in Europe.

从其他方面看，欧洲市场食品价格持续快速上涨的一个原因似乎是公司提振利润率的愿望，而非仅仅为了覆盖升高的成本。

Much of the surge in food prices since the middle of last year stems from higher costs, particularly for energy, since most food production is quite energy-intensive. But economists at insurance company Allianz have calculated that about 10% of the rise reflects the search for higher profits. They suggest that is possible because key parts of the food-supply chain are dominated by a small number of firms.

自去年年中以来，食品价格飙升的大部分原因是成本上升，特别是能源成本，因为大多数食品生产都是能源非常密集的操作。不过保险巨头安联的经济学家计算出，大约10%的涨价反映的是对更高利润的追求。他们暗示，这是有可能的，因为食品供应链的关键部分是由少数公司主导的。
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“There is not enough competition in the food sector, especially in distribution,” said Ludovic Subran, chief economist at Allianz.

安联首席经济学家Ludovic Subran称：“食品行业的竞争不足，尤其是在分销领域。”

Not all businesses are opportunistically boosting their margins and Ms. Weber said that when some do, it can cause problems for others that are closer to the final consumer and are at greatest risk of facing a backlash.

Weber说，并不是所有企业都是一有机会就提高利润率，但如果有一些企业这么做了，可能会给供应链中更接近终端消费者、最可能面临反噬的其他企业造成问题。

Over recent months, Germany’s largest retailer, Edeka, has complained about the pricing behavior of its suppliers of branded goods and has stopped stocking some of their products.

近几个月来，德国最大的零售商Edeka抱怨其品牌商品供应商的定价行为，并已停止采购它们的一些产品。
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“We call on the branded-products industry to live up to its responsibility and stop artificially driving up inflation,” said Edeka’s CEO Markus Mosa.

Edeka的首席执行官Markus Mosa称：“我们呼吁品牌产品行业履行自己的责任，停止人为抬高通胀。”

There are some signs that food-price inflation is starting to slow. In France, food prices were 14.9% higher in April than a year earlier, a slowdown from 15.9% in March. In Germany, food inflation slowed to 17.2% from 22.3%. But the British Retail Consortium, a group that represents U.K. stores, said food inflation accelerated in April to hit a record high.

有迹象表明，食品价格上涨开始放缓。在法国，4月份食品价格同比上涨14.9%，较3月份的15.9%有所放缓。在德国，食品通胀从22.3%放缓至17.2%。但代表英国商店的英国零售商协会说，4月份食品通胀加速，达到创纪录高位。

In recent earnings calls, some executives said consumers were becoming more resistant to price rises.

在最近的财报电话会议上，一些高管表示，消费者对价格上涨的抵制越来越强。

“We will probably see pricing moving down,” said Francois-Xavier Roger, Nestlé’s chief financial officer.

雀巢首席财务官Francois-Xavier Roger说：“我们可能会看到价格下降。”

Last month, Procter & Gamble said it had boosted its profit margins in the first three months of the year, thanks in large part to higher prices. It warned that there were limits to how far it could push that tactic before consumers switched to cheaper alternatives.

上个月，宝洁公司表示，今年头三个月利润率有所提高，这在很大程度上要归功于价格上调。但该公司警告称，推行这种策略的程度是有限的，因为消费者有可能转向更便宜的替代品。

“We’ve made several adjustments to price gaps, not just versus private label, but versus branded competition as we’ve gone through this period of pricing, and we need to continue to be sensitive to that,” said Jon Moeller, the company’s CEO.

该公司首席执行官Jon Moeller称：“在这段时期，我们对价差进行了几次调整，不仅针对自有品牌价差，也针对品牌竞争，我们需要继续对定价保持敏感。”

For Mr. Donovan at UBS, the period of profit-driven inflation might be coming to an end, in part because of rising public scrutiny.

在瑞银的Donovan看来，利润驱动的通胀时期可能即将结束，原因之一是公众对价格更加在意。

“We are probably at a point where companies may be reassessing whether to push this,” he said. “A reputation for being poor value for money stays for a long time.”

“当前，企业可能正在重新评估是否要推动这一策略，”他说。“性价比不高的印象一旦形成很难改变。”
【美元开始失势】


The U.S. economy no longer looks so exceptional. That is bad news for the dollar.

美国经济看起来没有那么好了。这对美元来说是个坏消息。

The greenback has fallen about 8.3% from a peak in September, as tracked by the WSJ Dollar Index, and is experiencing its worst start to the year since 2018.

据华尔街日报美元指数追踪，美元已较去年9月的峰值下跌了约8.3%，并且正在经历2018年以来最糟糕的一年的开局。

Investors are betting the U.S. currency has further to fall as the Federal Reserve nears the end of its most aggressive program of interest-rate increases since the 1980s. Also weighing on the dollar: concerns over the banking system, a potential U.S. debt default and expectations, shared by many economists, that the U.S. will slip into recession in the coming months.

投资者押注，随着美联储自20世纪80年代以来最激进的一轮加息接近尾声，美元还将进一步下跌。其他对美元不利的因素包括：围绕银行系统的担忧，潜在的美国债务违约，以及美国将在未来几个月陷入经济衰退的预期，许多经济学家都认同这一预期。

Fed tightening spurred a historic rally in the dollar last year that sent it to multidecade highs against currencies such as the euro and the yen. The dollar began weakening in the fall, held its ground in the new year as inflation proved more stubborn than expected, and has resumed its downdraft in the past two months.

去年，美联储的紧缩政策刺激美元出现历史性的上涨，美元兑欧元、日圆等货币汇率升至数十年高点。美元在去年秋季开始走弱，但进入新的一年后持稳，原因是事实证明通胀比预期的更加顽固；过去两个月，美元重新开始下行。

The Fed is expected this week to deliver its last quarter-point rate increase before hitting pause on policy tightening. That would put the Fed at odds with other major central banks, including in the eurozone and the U.K., which reopened from pandemic lockdowns later than the U.S. and are now seeing stickier inflation.

预计美联储将在本周加息25个基点，这将是本轮加息周期里的最后一次加息，之后将暂停加息。由此，美联储与欧洲央行、英国央行等其他主要央行的货币政策走向将出现分化；那些国家和地区解除抗疫封锁措施、重新开放的时间比美国要晚一些，目前面临的通胀也更顽固。
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“The U.S. is coming out of a period of extraordinary outperformance. Other countries are starting to catch up,” said Nick Wall, head of global foreign-exchange strategy at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

“美国正在走出那段表现格外出众的时期，其他国家开始迎头赶上，”摩根资产管理全球外汇策略主管Nick Wall说。

A weaker dollar is typically good news for the global economy. It lowers the cost of servicing or repaying dollar debt for foreign companies and governments, boosts the value of overseas earnings by U.S. multinationals and can bolster global trade, because goods priced in dollars become more affordable to international buyers.

对全球经济来说，美元疲软通常是个好消息。美元走弱可以降低外国公司和政府偿付美元债务的成本，提高美国跨国公司海外收入的价值，还能促进全球贸易，因为以美元定价的商品对国际买家来说变得更便宜。

“It’s a release valve for global growth,” said Mr. Wall. “Sixty percent of global liabilities are denominated in dollars; a lot of those are in emerging markets, and emerging markets are responsible for maybe two-thirds of global growth in the last decade.”

“美元走软会减轻全球增长的压力，”Wall表示。“全球60%的债务以美元计价；其中很多债务由新兴市场背负，在过去十年里，新兴市场可能贡献了全球增长的三分之二。”

Investors are betting the Fed will pivot to lowering borrowing costs by at least a quarter point by the end of the year, CME Group data shows. Meanwhile, market pricing suggests that investors expect the European Central Bank and the Bank of England to raise their key rates by more than half a percentage point by year-end.

芝商所数据显示，投资者押注美联储将在今年年底前转而把借款成本下调至少25个基点。同时市场定价表明，投资者预计欧洲央行和英国央行将在年底前把关键利率上调50个基点以上。

That divergence should help currencies such as the euro and British pound to keep gaining against the dollar, analysts say. Rate differentials are a crucial driver of currency markets, as higher rates draw investors in search of yield.

分析师表示，这种政策分化应会有助于欧元和英镑等货币兑美元持续走高。利差是左右汇市走势的一个重要因素，利率上升会吸引寻求收益的投资者。
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One complication is that the dollar remains a favored asset in times of crisis. If a global recession became a real risk—if, for example, global banking strains worsened markedly—the greenback would likely rally, as happened in early 2020.

一个复杂的问题是，美元在危机时期仍是一种受青睐的资产。如果全球经济衰退成为一种真实的风险——例如发生全球银行业压力明显恶化的情况——则美元很可能会上涨，就像2020年初那样。

Meanwhile, economic momentum is shifting. European growth is holding up unexpectedly well, as the region’s energy crisis has eased, while U.S. activity is slowing. China’s economy expanded by an unexpectedly large 4.5% in the first quarter from a year earlier.

与此同时，经济发展势头正在发生转变。欧洲的能源危机有所缓解，经济增长出乎意料地保持良好，而美国的经济活动正在放缓。中国经济第一季度意外同比大幅增长4.5%。

The International Monetary Fund expects the expansion in U.S. gross domestic product to slow to 1.1% next year and eurozone GDP to rise 1.4%, while it sees Chinese growth at 4.5%.

国际货币基金组织预计，明年美国国内生产总值增速将放缓至1.1%，欧元区GDP将增长1.4%，而中国的经济增速将达到4.5%。

“The dollar-exceptionalism story is weaker not just from the rates perspective, where rates may have peaked, inflation may have peaked well ahead of the eurozone and the rest of the world, but also from a growth perspective,” said Federico Cesarini, head of developed-market foreign exchange at Amundi Institute.

Amundi Institute发达市场汇率主管Federico Cesarini称：“美元例外论已经没那么有用了，这不仅是从利率层面考虑，而且也是从经济增长的角度考虑；美国的利率可能已经见顶，通胀可能已经远早于欧元区和全球其他地区见顶。”

Mr. Cesarini said rising European interest rates were a “regime shift” for the currency market that could lead to a multiyear dollar downturn. Investors have shunned European bonds since the ECB introduced negative rates in 2014. Now, they are coming home.

Cesarini表示，欧洲利率上升是货币市场的“稳态转化”，可能导致美元持续多年的低迷。自欧洲央行2014年引入负利率以来，投资者一直避开欧洲债券。现在，他们正在回归。

“This is really just the beginning,” he said. “I strongly believe a lot of capital from eurozone guys will have to be repatriated back.”

“这真的只是个开始，”他说。“我坚信，欧元区投资者的大量资本将不得不回流。”

He estimates that about 300 billion euros, equivalent to some $331 billion, has poured back into Europe since last June, mostly into European shares, and that flows could ultimately total about €2 trillion. Amundi forecasts a further 7% rise in the euro this year, to $1.18 from $1.10.

他估计，自去年6月以来，约有3,000亿欧元资金回流欧洲，其中大部分流入了欧洲股市，最终流入总额可能达到约2万亿欧元。Amundi预计欧元今年将进一步升值7%，从1欧元兑1.10美元升至1欧元兑1.18美元。

Hedge-fund managers have been adding to bets against the dollar, which rose to around $12.2 billion as of April 25, according to a Scotiabank analysis of Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. Among those is Stanley Druckenmiller, who said last week that shorting the dollar is his only high-conviction trade.

丰业银行对美国商品期货交易委员会数据的分析显示，对冲基金经理一直在加大做空美元，截至4月25日的做空规模已升至122亿美元左右。Stanley Druckenmiller就是其中之一。他上周说，做空美元是他唯一高度确信的交易。

“The one area I feel reasonably comfortable in is, I’m short the U.S. dollar,” Mr. Druckenmiller said at an investment conference hosted by Norway’s sovereign-wealth fund. “Currency trends tend to run at least two or three years. We had a long one here, over $10 trillion came into the U.S. dollar during the previous decade.”

“我感到相当满意的一方面在于，我采取做空美元的策略，”Druckenmiller在挪威主权财富基金主办的一次投资会议上说。“外汇的趋势往往至少持续两到三年。之前有一个持续很久的趋势，在过去的10年中，超过10万亿美元的资金买入美元。”

Some say an almost decadelong run-up has left the dollar heavily overvalued. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts estimate that the currency is between 5% and 15% above its fair value, while other currencies such as the yen, South Africa’s rand and Norway’s krone are sharply undervalued.

一些人认为，近10年的上涨已经使美元被严重高估。高盛集团的分析师估计，美元比其公允价值高出5%至15%，而其他货币，如日圆、南非兰特和挪威克朗的价值被大幅低估。

History suggests dollar weakness could prove short-lived. In the Fed’s past four rate cycles, the dollar typically weakened or traded flat for three to four months after the final rate increase, before eventually resuming its strengthening, JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists found.

从历史表现来看，事实可能证明美元的疲软是短暂的。摩根大通公司的策略师发现，在美联储过去的四个调息周期中，美元通常在最后一次加息后的三到四个月内走弱或持平，之后最终会恢复走强势头。

“When you look at the long-term trends, I continue to be relatively favorable on the dollar,” said Joseph Lewis, head of corporate hedging at Jefferies. “Big picture, the U.S. still has this dynamic environment that is drawing capital flows.”

“从长期趋势来看，我继续相对看好美元，”Jefferies的企业对冲主管Joseph Lewis说。“总体来看，美国仍有这种吸引资本流入的动态环境。”
【记忆芯片制造商表示，长期低迷后复苏在望】


The world’s top memory-chip makers, struggling with the deepest industry downturn in more than a decade, say the worst may soon be over as customers come back and cuts in production and investment help counter a supply glut.

全球顶级存储芯片制造商在十多年来最深的行业低潮中苦苦挣扎之际表示，随着客户回流，减产和投资有助于抵消供应过剩的影响，最糟糕的时期可能很快就会过去。

After reporting a $3.4 billion operating loss in the first quarter in its semiconductor division, Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday that demand for memory chips was expected to gradually recover in the second half of the year after a prolonged slide.

三星电子周四称，在经历了长时间的下滑后，存储芯片需求预计将在今年下半年逐步回暖。在此之前，该公司公布其半导体部门第一季度运营亏损34亿美元。

Samsung, the biggest memory-chip maker, expressed optimism that customers will start buying again as their inventories are now depleted and manufacturers are preparing for launches of new smartphones and PCs later this year.

这家全球最大的存储芯片制造商表达了乐观看法，认为客户将再度开始下单购买，因为其库存现已耗尽，而制造商正准备在今年晚些时候推出新的智能手机和个人电脑。

A day earlier, SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest producer of memory chips—used in everyday electronics and data servers—offered similar hope for recovery in the second half. Inventories held by customers have declined throughout the first three months of this year, creating room for them to start buying again, while the impact of production cuts by suppliers are also set to kick in, the company said.

一天前，全球第二大存储芯片生产商海力士半导体也表达了对下半年复苏的预期。存储芯片用于日常电子产品和数据服务器。该公司表示，今年前三个月客户所持库存已经下降，有空间重新开始购买，同时供应商削减产量的效果也将开始显现。

“The memory market, which is still under tough conditions, seems to be bottoming out,” Kim Woo-hyun, chief financial officer at SK Hynix, said Wednesday. “We expect some improvement over the first half,” he added during the company’s earnings call.

海力士半导体的首席财务官Kim Woo-hyun周三在该公司的财报电话会议上说：“仍然处境艰难的存储芯片市场似乎正在触底。”Kim表示：“我们预计上半年会有一些改善。”

The semiconductor industry at large has been grappling with its worst downturn in years after enjoying a pandemic-induced boom in tech purchases that boosted sales. Since last year, the global economic slowdown, inflation and geopolitical tensions have prompted big pullbacks in corporate and consumer spending on electronics that drive demand for memory chips.

在新冠疫情引发的科技采购潮提振销售之后，整个半导体行业一直在努力应对多年来最严重的低迷期。去年以来，全球经济放缓、通胀和地缘政治紧张局势已促使企业和消费者在电子产品上的支出大幅减少。存储芯片的需求有赖这些支出的推动。

Prices for the two main types of memory chips, DRAM and NAND flash, peaked during the Covid-19 pandemic, driven by a strong demand for tech products. Prices began falling sharply in the second half of last year and the slump has continued into 2023 amid a supply glut. DRAM memory enables devices to multitask, while NAND flash memory provides storage functions on devices.

在科技产品强劲需求的推动下，DRAM和NAND闪存这两种主要类型存储芯片的价格在新冠疫情期间达到顶峰。去年下半年时，由于供应过剩，价格开始急剧下降，而且降价趋势持续到了2023年。DRAM存储芯片的作用是实现设备的多任务处理能力，NAND闪存芯片则是为设备提供存储功能。

Last year, memory producers including SK Hynix, Micron Technology Inc., Western Digital Corp. and Tokyo-based Kioxia Holdings Corp. announced plans to scale back production or to lower investments on expanding capacity, moving to rein in supply and defend profitability. Earlier this month, Samsung said that it was in the process of cutting memory-chip production by unspecified “meaningful levels,” joining its peers with similar efforts.

去年，海力士半导体、美光科技公司、西部数据和总部位于东京的铠侠等存储芯片生产商宣布，计划缩减生产规模或减少旨在扩大产能的投资，以控制供应量并保护盈利能力。本月早些时候，三星也采取了类似行动，该公司表示，将对存储芯片产量进行显著下调，具体幅度未予透露。

U.S.-based memory-chip maker Micron Technology last month lowered its demand forecast for 2023 and said it was grappling with losses from a high level of inventory in its current quarter ended March 2. The losses were expected to continually decrease in the coming quarters, it said.

美国存储芯片制造商美光科技上个月下调了2023年的需求预测，并表示正在努力应对截至3月2日的财季高库存带来的损失。该公司表示，预计这些损失将在未来几个财季持续减少。

Micron’s outlook differed for its lines of business, with the firm saying it expects that revenue at its data-center memory business has bottomed out. China’s reopening is also expected to help drive up memory demand, the company said.

美光科技对各业务线的展望有所不同，该公司预计数据中心存储业务的收入已经见底。该公司认为中国的重新开放也将帮助推动存储需求增长。

“Customer inventories are getting better, and we expect gradual improvements to the industry’s supply-demand balance,” Micron Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra said at the time.

“客户库存日益好转，我们预计该行业的供需平衡会逐步改善，”美光科技首席执行官Sanjay Mehrotra当时说。

Prices of both DRAM and NAND flash are expected to continue declining on a quarter-to-quarter basis through the second half of this year, but the drops will be less than in the first half, according to TrendForce, a Taiwan-based market researcher.

根据台湾市场研究机构集邦科技的数据，预计DRAM和NAND闪存价格将在今年下半年继续环比下降，但降幅将小于上半年。

In the third quarter, average contract prices of DRAM are projected to fall quarterly by 7% and NAND flash by 1%, and in the fourth quarter by 3% and 7%, respectively, according to TrendForce. That compares with double-digit quarter-to-quarter price falls for both types of memory projected for the first and second quarters, according to TrendForce.

根据集邦科技的预测，第三季度，预计DRAM的平均合同价格将环比下降7%，NAND闪存价格下降1%，第四季度将分别下降3%和7%。根据集邦科技的预测，第一和第二季度这两种类型的内存的价格环比降幅为两位数百分比。

Daniel Araujo, a vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, said Thursday he expects to see signs of a global economic recovery and easing inflation in the second half of the year, and forecasts the sagging smartphone market to grow as people spend more again.

三星电子移动业务副总裁Daniel Araujo周四表示，他预计下半年将出现全球经济复苏和通胀放缓迹象，并预计，随着人们重新增加消费，低迷的智能手机市场将有所增长。

The growth of artificial intelligence and data-driven computing are also continuing to boost demand for more advanced forms of memory, said Kim Jae-june, executive vice president of Samsung’s memory business.

三星电子存储芯片业务执行副总裁Kim Jae-june说，AI和数据驱动的计算业务增长，也在继续推动对更先进形式存储芯片的需求。
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Moves to reduce memory supply, too, are expected to help the industry. Samsung’s memory stockpiles have declined since it began reducing production, said Mr. Kim. Redressing the imbalance with demand would help Samsung’s profitability.

减少存储芯片供应的行动预计也将为该行业带来帮助。Kim称，自从三星电子开始减产以来，其存储芯片库存已经下降。纠正供需失衡将有助于提升三星电子的盈利能力。

Talk of relief for the beleaguered sector came as the two South Korean companies recorded steep losses in the first three months of the year. Samsung said Thursday that companywide net profit for the January-March quarter fell by around 86% from the prior year to around 1.57 trillion won, the equivalent of $1.17 billion.

围绕行业状况有望缓解的讨论出现之际，这两家韩国公司公布今年前三个月出现严重亏损。三星电子周四称，1-3月季度的全公司净利润较上年同期下降约86%，至1.57万亿韩圆左右（合11.7亿美元）。

Samsung’s semiconductor division reported an operating loss of 4.58 trillion won in the first quarter. That compares with an operating profit of 8.45 trillion won logged a year earlier.

三星电子的半导体部门公布第一季度营业亏损4.58万亿韩圆。相比之下，上年同期实现营业利润8.45万亿韩圆。

SK Hynix on Wednesday reported a net loss of roughly 2.59 trillion won in the first quarter. Last month, Micron reported a net loss of $2.31 billion for its latest quarter ended March 2.

海力士半导体周三公布，第一季度净亏损约2.59万亿韩圆。美光上月公布，截至3月2日的最新财季净亏损23.1亿美元。