Profit increases tenfold

AI gold rush boosts Samsung’s chip division

A Samsung chip factory in South Korea (symbolic image)(Bild: Samsung)

The boom in artificial intelligence (AI) is driving up the profits of South Korean electronics group Samsung tenfold in the first quarter. According to the world's largest manufacturer of memory chips and televisions, profits rose to 6.6 trillion won (4.8 billion dollars) from January to March - up from 640 billion won in the previous year.

This is in line with Samsung's own estimate from earlier this month and is the highest operating profit since the third quarter of 2022. Sales of memory chips nearly doubled and prices for specialized products for high-performance computing jumped after a sharp decline thanks to high demand in the AI field.

"In the second half of 2024, we expect continued positive business conditions and strong demand, especially in generative AI, despite continued volatility in macroeconomic trends and geopolitical issues," Samsung explained.

The memory chip division, usually the South Korean electronics company's profit driver, reportedly generated a profit of 1.91 trillion won in the past quarter after a loss of 4.58 trillion won in the previous year. Sales rose by 13 percent to 71.9 trillion won in the first quarter, with the memory chip business increasing by 96 percent to 17.49 trillion won.