Samsung Electronics Co yesterday reported a 10-fold annual increase in operating profit for the first quarter of the year as the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies drives a rebound in the markets for computer memory chips.
The South Korean semiconductor and smartphone giant said its operating profit for the January-to-March quarter came in at 6.6 trillion won (US$4.8 billion), up from the 640 billion won it earned during the same period last year.
Revenue rose 12.8 percent to 71.9 trillion won, driven by higher prices for memory chips and robust sales of its flagship Galaxy S24 smartphones, the company said.
Photo: AFP
Samsung earned 1.91 trillion won in operating profit from its semiconductor business, marking the division’s first quarterly profit since the fourth quarter of 2022, as the chip market continues to recover from a cyclical slump deepened by the COVID-19 pandemic and global trade tensions.
The company projected that the memorychip market would remain robust in the coming months, driven by the expansion of generative AI technologies, which are increasing demand for conventional chips used in servers and advanced chips designed to process AI, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM).
Responding to increased demand for AI chips, Samsung last month started mass production of its latest HBM chips — 8-layer HBM3E — and plans to start producing the 12-layer version of the chips during the second quarter, the company said.
“In the second half of 2024, business conditions are expected to remain positive with demand — mainly around generative AI — holding strong, despite continued volatility relating to macroeconomic trends and geopolitical issues,” Samsung said in a statement.
For smartphones, the company would continue to focus on boosting sales of its flagship device, the Galaxy S24, which is built with an array of new features enabled by AI, including live translation during phone calls in 13 languages and 17 dialects.
Samsung said it plans to expand AI features beyond the S24 to other mobile devices as it expects the technologies to drive growth in the smartphone market in the coming months amid improvements in global consumer spending.
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