Samsung SDS said its first-quarter operating profit fell sharply from a year earlier after it booked a one-time severance-related expense.
In a regulatory filing on the 23rd, the company reported preliminary consolidated operating profit of 78.3 billion won, down 70.8% year over year. Revenue slipped 3.9% to 3.3529 trillion won.
Samsung SDS said the results reflected a one-off 112 billion won retirement benefit expense tied to a change in severance calculation standards.
By business, IT services revenue edged up to 1.6105 trillion won. Within that, cloud revenue rose 5.8% to 690.9 billion won, making it the largest share of IT services revenue, ahead of ITO (IT outsourcing).
In cloud, the CSP business based on the Samsung Cloud Platform (SCP) grew 12% from a year earlier, supported by rising demand for public-sector AX projects, increased GPU-as-a-service (GPUaaS) use and expanded cloud network services. The managed services (MSP) business increased 4% on higher sales in finance and the public sector and stronger global partnerships.
Logistics revenue fell 7.8% to 1.7424 trillion won. Sales from its digital logistics platform, Cello Square, rose more than 30%, but overall cargo volumes declined and freight rates fell, the company said.
Samsung SDS forecast a recovery starting in the second quarter, citing growing public-sector demand for GPUaaS, expanding sales in financial services and wider adoption of intelligent AI services across government, which it expects to support cloud growth.
Over the mid-to-long term, the company said it will accelerate a shift to an AI-centered business structure under an “AI full-stack” strategy spanning AI infrastructure, AX and AI services, and AI platforms and solutions. It plans to invest a total of 10 trillion won through 2031.
Specifically, it will invest 5 trillion won in AI infrastructure to expand new facilities including the Gumi AI data center and the National AI Computing Center, and 1 trillion won to strengthen competitiveness in AX and AI services and platforms. The remaining 4 trillion won will be used for strategic mergers and acquisitions to secure new growth engines and expand globally.
Separately, Samsung SDS said its data center build-and-operate (DBO) business is gaining momentum after winning a conceptual design contract for a data center project led by a major domestic asset manager.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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