UPDATE 1-Hynix to suspend U.S. plant, may sell facility

(Adds details, shares)

SEOUL, July 24 (Reuters) - South Korean chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor Inc (000660.KS) 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), 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.

Hynix reports its second-quarter results on July 31 and is expected to report a 225 billion won ($223 million) net loss, though this should be much narrower than its loss in the first quarter.

"An industry downturn, rather than an upturn, is the right timing to restructuring less effective production facilities," Hynix said in a statement. "The suspension of the Eugene plant will reduce production of loss-making products significantly and help narrow losses."

Hynix said wafer input will be immediately suspended at the Eugene plant and all operation would stop fully by end-September.

After the suspension, Hynix said it would consider other businesses to utilise the U.S. plant or sell it, either in a package or by separating the facility, building and land.

Hynix shares were up 0.22 percent at 23,300 won by 0122 GMT, lagging the wider market's .KS11 1.54 percent gain. ($1=1009.0 Won) (Reporting by Rhee So-eui and Cheon Jong-woo; Editing by Keiron Henderson)