Samsung Electronics on Tuesday reported a 10-fold escalate in operating profit for the latest quarter as advances in artificial intelligence technology drive a rebound in computer memory chip markets. The South Korean semiconductor and smartphone giant said its operating profit for the January-March quarter was 6.6 trillion won ($4.8 billion), compared with the 640 billion won ($465 million) it earned in the same year. period last year. Revenue rose nearly 13 percent to 71.9 trillion won ($52 billion), helped by higher memory chip prices and solid sales of its flagship Galaxy S24 smartphones, the company said.
The company generated 1.91 trillion won ($1.38 billion) 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 crisis deepened by the Covid-19 pandemic and global trade tensions.
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Samsung forecast that the memory chip market will remain mighty in the coming months, driven by developments in generative AI technology that are driving demand for both conventional chips used in servers and advanced chips designed for AI processing, including high-bandwidth memory, or HBM .
In response to higher demand for AI chips, Samsung said it began mass production of its latest HBM chips, called 8-layer HBM3E chips, this month and that it plans to start producing a 12-layer version of the chips in the second quarter.
“Business conditions are expected to remain positive in the second half of 2024, with demand – mainly for generative AI – remaining mighty despite continued volatility related to macroeconomic trends and geopolitical issues,” Samsung said in a statement.
In smartphones, the company will continue to focus on driving sales of its flagship device, the Galaxy S24, which comes with a range of recent AI-powered features, 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 as global consumer spending improves.
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