SEOUL :Samsung Electronics on Tuesday estimated a 0.2 per cent drop in first-quarter operating profit from a year earlier, beating analysts’ estimates by far on solid smartphone sales and better-than-expected sales of memory chips.
Sales of conventional memory chips used in consumer electronic devices such as smartphones as well its AI chips likely came in better than expected, with some customers stockpiling chips ahead of potential U.S. tariffs on semiconductors, analysts said.
The world’s largest memory chipmaker estimated an operating profit of 6.6 trillion won for the January-March period, versus a 5.1 trillion won LSEG SmartEstimate.
That would compare with 6.61 trillion won in the same period a year earlier and 6.49 trillion won in the preceding quarter.
Samsung is expected to release detailed results including a breakdown of earnings for each of its businesses in late April.
