Samsung Electronics Co, Asia's largest electronics maker by market value, is seeing better-than-expected demand for handsets, flat screens and some types of semiconductors, an executive said.
First-quarter growth in shipments and profit margins are "much higher than expected" at the beginning of the year, Chu Woo-sik, head of Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics' investor and public relations, said in an interview yesterday.
Demand for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and so-called Nand flash memory chips are exceeding company projections, he said.
The performance by Samsung, which earned a record 11 trillion won (US$11 billion) profit last year, contrasts with rivals such as Sony Corp, whose declining profits at its electronics business ultimately led to the replacement of the Japanese company's chief executive.
"So if you put everything into context, business is faring a lot better than initial expectations," Chu said.
Growth in Samsung's first quarter unit shipments for handsets is in the "mid-teens," compared with probable declines by competitors, Chu said.
First-quarter handset average price growth is in the "high-single digits," resulting in higher-than-expected profits, Chu said. He declined to give specific figures.
First-quarter average LCD prices are falling about 5 percent from the end of last year, Chu said. Monitor prices are stabilizing and declines in LCDs used in notebooks and televisions are slowing, he said.
Demand in the first quarter, which was projected to decline, is similar to that of the fourth quarter, Chu said.
Demand for so-called Nand chips, which are used in consumer electronics such as mobile phones and digital cameras, is also better than expected, Chu said. Growth is more than double the company's initial projections for 10 percent growth, he said.
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
Artificial intelligence (AI) giant Nvidia Corp’s most advanced chips would be reserved for US companies and kept out of China and other countries, US President Donald Trump said. During an interview that aired on Sunday on CBS’ 60 Minutes program and in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said only US customers should have access to the top-end Blackwell chips offered by Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization. “The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States,” he told CBS, echoing remarks made earlier to reporters as he returned to Washington
RSS