The technology giant Samsung Electronics reported this Tuesday a net profit of 6.75 trillion won (about $4.91 billion) for the first quarter, 329.93% year-on-year more thanks to the recovery in demand for semiconductors and also to sales of high-end phones. The amount, which even exceeds the forecasts of most analysts, is 6.46% higher than the net profit obtained by the company in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The company also recorded a gross operating profit (EBITDA) of approximately 7.71 trillion won (5,605 million dollars) for the aforementioned period, which implies 287.97% more than what was achieved in the same period of the previous year. The operating profit of the company based in Suwon (south of Seoul) in January-March was 6.61 trillion won (4.805 million dollars), 932.81% more than in the first quarter of 2023, when that amount amounted to just 640 billion ($465 million) due to the sharp drop in demand for chips that forced Samsung to substantially readjust its production and inventories.
In this first quarter, the electronics giant in turn invoiced 7.92 trillion won (52.28 billion dollars), 12.81% more than a year ago. The company admitted in a statement that the weakening of the won against reference currencies had a favorable impact when it came to repatriating its profits from abroad and that gave it some 300 billion won (220 million dollars) more profit compared to October. December 2023.
The semiconductor branch, the most important of the company, returned to profits after a 2023 in the red, and reported an operating profit of 1.91 trillion won (1.39 billion dollars), which contrasts with the overdraft of 4.58 trillion (3.33 billion dollars) in January-March of last year, and sales revenue of 23.14 trillion won (US$16.825 billion), up 68% year-on-year. The unit grew by meeting the growing demand for chips for servers, storage, computers or phones and facing the second quarter “the industry is expected to maintain its strength led by the demand for generative artificial intelligence (AI),” the company indicated. it’s a statement.
Its telephone branch achieved good balance sheets despite the fact that the first quarter usually brings a seasonal slowdown thanks to the “strong sales of the Galaxy S24 series” and the “optimization of resources”, thus achieving a turnover of 33.53 trillion won (24,365 million dollars), a 5% more than a year ago.
