As semiconductor prices rebound, Samsung Electronics announced on Friday, April 5 that it anticipates first-quarter operational profits to increase more than tenfold year over year.
The company is the flagship division of the massive South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group, which is by far the biggest family-controlled corporation in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. The internet company predicted operational profits from January to March to increase by 931.3 percent to 6.6 trillion won ($4.89 billion) in a regulatory filing. During the same period last year, operating profits came to almost 640 billion won.
The Yonhap news agency in South Korea, citing its financial data firm, stated that the expectation was 20.5 percent more than the average projection. Samsung stated that sales are anticipated to increase by 11.4 percent to 71 trillion won.
Although South Korean chipmakers, led by Samsung, saw record profits in recent years due to skyrocketing product prices, memory chip sales were negatively impacted by the worldwide economic downturn.
However, according to industry watcher World Semiconductor Trade Statistics, the semiconductor business was expected to rebound this year and expand 11.8 percent. The announcement from Samsung follows that of SK Hynix, the second-largest memory chip manufacturer in the world, which declared in January that it had turned a profit following four quarters of losses.
Neil Shah, vice president of Counterpoint Research, told AFP that Samsung’s overall outlook is “fortified by a resurgence in the smartphone market, escalating DRAM (memory chip) prices.” At the end of this month, Samsung is anticipated to deliver its final earnings report.
