(LEAD) Samsung Electronics-Q1 earnings
(LEAD) Samsung Electronics Q1 net surges over fivefold on AI-driven demand
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SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday its first-quarter net profit surged more than fivefold from a year earlier, driven by robust demand for high-end memory chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Net profit for the three months ended March jumped to 47.22 trillion won (US$31.8 billion) from 8.22 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a press release.
Operating profit jumped more than eightfold to 57.23 trillion won from 6.68 trillion won over the same period, while sales climbed 69.2 percent to 133.87 trillion won from 79.14 trillion won.
"The record quarterly operating profit and sales were primarily driven by robust sales of high-margin AI chips and rising memory prices in the device solutions division," the company said.
A weaker won against the U.S. dollar contributed an additional 1.8 trillion won to operating profit, it added.
Looking ahead, the company expects solid performance in the second quarter, as continued heavy investment in AI infrastructure by global technology firms is likely to support memory chip prices.
Major tech companies, including Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., have been ramping up spending on data centers and related hardware, boosting demand for AI chips.
To meet growing demand, Samsung Electronics said it plans to expand the supply of sixth-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM4) this year.
The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average analyst estimate for net profit stood at 39.12 trillion won, according to Yonhap Infomax, the financial data arm of Yonhap News Agency.
As of 9:35 a.m., Samsung Electronics traded 1.22 percent higher at 229,000 won, outperforming the broader Korea Composite Stock Price Index's (KOSPI) 0.48 percent gain.
This file photo, taken Jan. 29, 2026, shows Samsung Electronics Co.'s building in southern Seoul. (Yonhap)
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