Samsung Electronics expects operating profits of 15.6 trillion won (around $14.6 billion) for the first quarter of 2018, it has said in its earnings guidance. This is significant given it made 9.9 trillion won ($9.3 billion) during the same quarter in 2017.
The world’s largest chipmaker’s growth was mainly propelled by its components business, particularly thanks to memory cards used in servers and mobile devices. “In the Memory Business, we enjoyed favorable conditions throughout the year as demand for servers and other major applications stayed solid while supply was kept in check due to increasing difficulties in migrating technology,” the South Korean tech giant said in a statement.
However, the company's shares fell after the announcement as analysts forecast similar or lower profit in Q2, due to slower growth in DRAM chip prices and higher marketing costs for the flagship Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones. Samsung also admitted that its low-end models saw a sharp decrease in sales.
Nonetheless, the South Korean behemoth is expected to continue its impressive performance in the second quarter from continued high demand for semiconductors and sales of the S9 series. Overall, the company made an operating profit of 53.6 trillion Korean won ($50 billion), up from the 29.2 trillion won ($27 billion) it made in 2016.
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