Samsung Electronics forecasts 11 pct rise in profits

SEOUL

Samsung Electronics expects operating profits in the second quarter to rise 11.4 percent, the South Korean tech giant said in a statement yesterday, despite ongoing global supply chain woes.       

The world’s biggest smartphone maker forecast 2022 second-quarter operating profits of about 14 trillion won ($10.7 billion), up from 12.6 trillion won in the same quarter last year.    

Analysts said Samsung was helped by its continued strong performances in the memory chip business, making up for declines in smartphone sales over the period.       

Samsung shipped 74.5 million smartphones in the first quarter, topping the global shipments market with 23 percent, trailed by Apple’s 18 percent.     

With memory chips now used in a wide-ranging array of devices and cloud servers - essential for remote working in the pandemic era - the sector has become less dependent on seasonally driven demand for gadgets such as smartphones and laptops.     

But concerns are growing over uncertainty in the global economic outlook due to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and mounting fears of recession driven by inflationary pressure.    

The world’s biggest memory chip maker, Samsung Electronics has aggressively stepped up investment in its semiconductor business as the world battles chip shortages that have hit everything from cars and home appliances to smartphones and gaming consoles.    

Last week, the company became the first chipmaker in the world to mass-produce advanced 3-nanometre microchips as it sought to match and eventually outpace Taiwan’s TSMC in the race to manufacture the most advanced microchips.     

The new chips will be smaller, more powerful and efficient, and will be used in high-performance computing applications before being put into gadgets such as mobile phones.