In 2017, Samsung surpassed Intel to become the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturing company for the first time. Thanks to the continued shortage of memory chips, Samsung’s quarterly profit exceeded analysts’ expectations. Samsung’s filing on Thursday showed that as of the end of March, Samsung Electronics Net profit for the quarter increased to 11.6 trillion won (10.7 billion U.S. dollars), exceeding the average forecast of analysts of 10.9 trillion won (10.05 billion U.S. dollars), with revenue growth of 20% and total revenue of 60.6 trillion won.
However, there are also analysis warnings that in the coming months, smart phone demand will face challenges. Although Samsung's performance has eased market concerns about the slowdown in chip demand, but for global semiconductor companies, the current market is still in danger. Samsung also said that due to the slowdown in demand, the profitability of the mobile phone business has declined. Samsung also warned that the demand for Apple's iPhone X smartphone screen may be weak.
Samsung's outstanding performance does not bring any comfort to other chip makers and Apple suppliers. Apple has released its expectations of disappointing the market. Its share price has fallen sharply in the past two weeks.
Samsung's chip business achieved operating profit of 11.6 trillion won in the quarter, which is 3 times that of the mobile phone division. Samsung controls about two-thirds of the global DRAM market. The company launched its Galaxy S9 flagship mobile phone in February this year. It was 3.77 trillion won. However, Samsung warned that the current quarter's flagship mobile phone sales may be stagnant due to weak demand, marketing costs have also risen.
