Samsung profit to skyrocket by 931 per cent as chip recovery in sight
Korean phone and chipmaker Samsung said it expects profit for the first quarter of the year to mushroom by 931 per cent to around 6.6t won (around £3.8bn) in preliminary guidance on Friday.
The figure smashes analyst forecasts of 5.7t (£3.bn) Korean won, according to LSEG SmartEstimates. Sales also climbed to 71t won (£41bn), up 11.4 per cent from a year earlier.
It will be Samsung’s most successful quarter since 2022, as the company has faltered due to weak demand and low prices for memory chips.
In January, Samsung posted a 34 per cent drop in operating profits which fell to 2.8t won (£1.7bn) in the three months ended December, compared to 4.3t won (£2.5bn) a year earlier.
Even though its chip business reported a record loss for the full year amid continued weak demand for devices that use the silicon, Samsung said it expects chip demand to improve in 2024.
The world’s largest chip maker is hoping for a turnaround of its key chip business and the silicon industry as a whole, which provides the key silicon components for everyday electronic devices around the world.
Strong sales of Samsung’s latest AI-driven smartphones will also have boosted the company’s results. It launched the Galaxy S24 series in January, capable of running generative artificial intelligence “solutions” on-device, such as camera and productivity enhancements.
In January, Samsung lost its place as the world’s top smartphone maker to rival Apple, although it reclaimed the crown in global smartphone sales the following month.
The stock dipped down as much as 0.7 percent on Friday morning, following a 30 per cent surge over the past year.