South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics
005930,
said its third-quarter net profit fell 38% on the year but more than tripled on the quarter to beat market consensus, as its semiconductor business narrowed losses amid signs of recovery in demand.
The world’s largest maker of memory chips, smartphones and televisions said Tuesday that net profit came in at 5.844 trillion won ($4.34 billion) for the quarter ended September, compared with KRW9.389 trillion a year earlier and KRW1.724 trillion in the previous quarter.
Revenue stood at KRW67.405 trillion for the third quarter with operating profit coming in at KRW2.434 trillion, largely in line with the company’s preliminary forecasts.
The company said its memory chip segment remained in the red for a third consecutive quarter, but its quarterly losses narrowed to KRW3.757 trillion in the third quarter from losses of over KRW4.0 trillion in each of the first and second quarters.
The company also said its smartphone and display-panel businesses performed strongly in the third quarter, helping offset losses from the semiconductor segment.
It said that demand for memory chips will likely continue to improve in the fourth quarter and next year on clients’ new product releases and the artificial-intelligence boom.
Samsung also expects demand for powerful computing chips used in generative AI applications to remain strong in the coming quarters.
The company has cut semiconductor output to reduce inventory and support prices for memory chips while trying to boost output capacity for AI chips and other high-end products to meet brisk demand.
Samsung said Tuesday it expects facility investment to hit an annual record of KRW53.7 trillion in 2023, with KRW11.4 trillion spent in the third quarter.