Samsung Electronics Co SSNLF reported fourth-quarter revenue growth of 12% year-on-year to 75.8 trillion Korean won ($52.2 billion).
Operating profit declined by 30% Q/Q to 6.5 trillion Korean won due to soft market conditions, especially for IT products, and higher R&D expenditures.
The DS Division (encompassing Memory and S.LSI / Foundry) posted 30.1 trillion Korean won in revenue (versus 21.7 trillion Korean won Y/Y) backed by a higher blended DRAM average selling price (ASP) due to the increased sales of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and high-density DDR5 for servers.
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The division reported 2.9 trillion Korean won in operating profit (versus a loss of (2.2) trillion Korean won Y/Y).
Samsung Display Corp Division, posted 8.1 trillion Korean won in revenue (versus 9.7 trillion Korean won Y/Y). The division reported 0.9 trillion Korean won in operating profit (versus 2.0 trillion Korean won Y/Y) due to sluggish smartphone demand and rising competition for the mobile display business.
The Mobile eXperience (MX) and Networks businesses posted 25.8 trillion Korean won in revenue (versus 25.0 Korean won Y/Y). The division reported 2.1 trillion Korean won in operating profit (versus 2.7 trillion Korean won Y/Y).
The quarterly capex was 17.8 trillion Korean won, with 16 trillion Korean won allocated to the DS Division and 1 trillion Korean won to SDC.
While overall earnings improvement may be limited in the first quarter of 2025 due to weakness in the semiconductors business, the company aims to pursue growth through increased sales of smartphones with differentiated AI experiences and premium products in the Device eXperience (DX) Division.
For 2025, the company plans to enhance technological and product advantages in AI, meet future demand for high-value-added products, and drive sales growth in premium segments.
Samsung, in a preliminary earnings report, flagged sluggish demand for conventional chips used in personal computers and mobile phones weighed on its memory business, with earnings also dented by rising R&D costs and early investments in expanding advanced-chip processing capability, the Wall Street Journal reports.
SK Hynix has left Samsung behind in HBM, Eric Ross of Cascend Securities, told CNBC. Micron Technology, Inc also gained ground, Ross told. PC and smartphone DRAM markets are under price pressure, he added.
Nabila Popal of IDC told CNBC that Samsung’s share of the premium market has inched closer to market leader Apple Inc thanks to the former’s Galaxy S24 series featuring Galaxy AI.
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