Korean media: Samsung Electronics' operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year reached 1.64 trillion South Korean won, 5.6 times that of the previous year

¬ Semiconductor operating profit of 1.6 trillion ... driven by good performance, the company's annual operating profit is expected to reach as high as 18 trillion

Samsung Electronics has returned.

Samsung Electronics revealed on the 29th that sales for the fourth quarter (October-December) were 93.837 trillion South Korean won (approximately 456 billion Chinese yuan), an increase of 23.8% compared to the previous year; operating profit was 20.0737 trillion South Korean won (approximately 97.6 billion Chinese yuan), up 209.2%. For the fourth quarter, this was the highest operating profit in seven years, and both quarterly sales and operating profit set record highs in the history of South Korean companies.

Revenue from the semiconductor business increased by 46.2% year-on-year to 44 trillion South Korean won (approximately 213.8 billion Chinese yuan), while operating profit surged by 465% to 1.64 trillion South Korean won (approximately 79.7 billion Chinese yuan). The competitiveness of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which had been lost due to a misjudgment, has been fully restored, laying the foundation for regaining the "semiconductor throne" that had been taken by SK Hynix. The company's annual sales increased by 10.87% to 333.6 trillion South Korean won (approximately 162.13 billion Chinese yuan), and annual operating profit rose by 33.3% to 43.6 trillion South Korean won (approximately 211.9 billion Chinese yuan).

The semiconductor division (DS) continued to drive Samsung's strong performance, with semiconductor business accounting for 80% of the total operating profit.

Previously, Samsung's memory chip business was truly the industry leader. However, with the acceleration of competition in AI infrastructure, Samsung lagged behind in HBM development and was overtaken by SK Hynix starting from the first quarter of 2025. According to data from market research firm Counterpoint Research, in the fourth quarter of 2024, Samsung's share in the DRAM market was 38%, remaining first, but in the first quarter of last year, its market share dropped to 34%, falling behind SK Hynix (36%).

Through a major initiative of re-designing HBM, Samsung is committed to restoring technological competitiveness, later supplying HBM3E to NVIDIA to seek a chance for reversal. In the past year, Samsung also supplied HBM3E to Google and AMD. Recently, Samsung completed the development of HBM4, achieving the industry's highest level of 11.7Gbps operating speed, and announced that it will officially supply HBM4 to NVIDIA starting next month. With the recovery of Samsung's HBM technical competitiveness, Samsung has also regained the position of DRAM champion (by sales) that it had handed over to SK Hynix in the fourth quarter of last year. Industry insiders said: "Samsung's semiconductor business, which had once stagnated, has started to take off again. Currently, there is a global shortage of memory supply, which is expected to directly benefit Samsung, which has strong production capacity."

Industry experts predict that due to the prosperity of the semiconductor market, Samsung's annual operating profit this year is expected to reach as high as 18 trillion South Korean won (approximately 874.8 billion Chinese yuan). SK Securities said: "It is expected that Samsung's operating profit this year will increase by 314% compared to the previous year, reaching 18 trillion South Korean won, with an operating profit margin of 37%, setting new records in both profit and profitability."

On the other hand, Samsung's home appliance and smartphone businesses are facing difficulties. In the fourth quarter of last year, the operating profit of Samsung's mobile and network business department declined compared to the previous year, reaching only 1.9 trillion South Korean won (approximately 9.2 billion Chinese yuan), while the home appliance and television business continued to suffer losses for two consecutive quarters following the third quarter.

Source: Chosun Ilbo

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1855618997412874/

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