Samsung Electronics Co. has reported a remarkable increase in net profit, which rose to 47.22 trillion won (around US$31.8 billion) in the first quarter, more than five times the profit recorded in the same period last year. Total sales for the three months ending in March also saw a substantial growth of 69.2 percent, reaching 133.87 trillion won, driven by heightened demand for high-margin memory chips used in AI applications.
Operating profit surged over eightfold to 57.23 trillion won, compared to 6.68 trillion won in the previous year. Contributing to these results was a depreciating won against the U.S. dollar, which added 1.8 trillion won to operating profit. Samsung anticipates a strong second quarter, fueled by ongoing investments in AI infrastructure from major tech companies like Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc..
In response to increasing demand, Samsung began production of its sixth-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM4) in February. The company plans to boost HBM4 supply in the latter half of the year, with expectations for sales to more than triple compared to last year. Additionally, during the second quarter, Samsung will unveil samples of its next-generation HBM4E chips, as it aims to stabilize supply through long-term contracts amidst a projected supply-demand imbalance through 2027.