Seoul (EFE).- The technology giant Samsung Electronics reported a net profit of 6.75 trillion won (about $4.91 billion) for the first quarter. 329.93% more year-on-year thanks to the recovery in demand for semiconductors and also the sales of high-end phones.
The amount 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 of approximately 7.71 trillion won (US$5.605 billion) for the aforementioned period. This implies 287.97% more than what was achieved in the same period of the previous year.
The company’s operating profit 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 640,000 million (465 million Dollars). The above is 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.
Samsung benefits from weaker won
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).
This contrasts with the overdraft of 4.58 trillion won (US$3.33 billion) in January-March 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. Looking ahead to the second quarter, “the industry is expected to maintain strength led by demand for generative artificial intelligence (AI),” the company said in a statement.
Its telephone branch reaped good balances 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), 5% more than a year ago.
