SEOUL, April 07 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics on Tuesday estimated its operating profit reached a whopping 57.2 trillion won ($42.3 billion) in the January–March period on a surge in memory prices from legacy to AI-supporting high-performance chips, beating not just full-year 2025 earnings but nearing the annual income of the last chip boom year in 2018.
In its first-quarter earnings guidance, the South Korean tech giant — spanning chips, smartphones and home appliances — said operating profit jumped 755.0 percent from 6.6 trillion won a year earlier and nearly tripled from 20.1 trillion won in the previous quarter.
The figure far exceeded the market consensus of 40.5 trillion won compiled by FnGuide, as investors had been closely watching whether the company could surpass the 50 trillion won milestone. The result also came close to its record annual profit of 58.9 trillion won in 2018.
The second straight record-setting quarter was fueled by a sharp rebound in memory prices, with DRAM contract prices surging 90–95 percent on-quarter in the first quarter and NAND prices rising about 60 percent, according to TrendForce.
Revenue jumped 41.73 percent on quarter and 68.06 percent on year to 133 trillion won, the first quarterly milestone above 100 trillion won.
Samsung will release its detailed earnings report later this month.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.