Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday its operating profit surged more than 15-fold on-year in the second quarter thanks to strong performance in its semiconductor business.
The mobile phone and memory chip maker said in a regulatory filing that operating profit came to 10.44 trillion won (about $7.54 billion) in the April-June period, compared with 668.5 billion won (about $490 million) a year earlier, equivalent to a growth of 1,458 percent.
This is the first time Samsung Electronics has posted operating profit of more than 10 trillion won (about $7.3 billion) in seven quarters since the third quarter of 2022.
Its sales jumped 23.4 percent on-year to 74.06 trillion won (about $53.45 billion), and its net profit surged 471 percent to 9.84 trillion won (about $7.1 billion).
The company's earnings beat market expectations. Analysts' average estimate for its operating profit was 10.29 trillion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, a financial data firm affiliated with Yonhap News Agency.
Samsung Electronics said it invested 8.05 trillion won in research and development in the second quarter. It also spent 12.1 trillion won (about $8.8 billion) in facilities investment, including 9.9 trillion won in the semiconductor business.
It said its chip business posted sales of 28.6 trillion won in the second quarter, with an operating profit of 6.45 trillion won ($4.7 billion).
This marks the first quarterly operating profit for the company's flagship business in more than a year, having been in the loss for five consecutive quarters since the first quarter of 2023.
The strong performance was driven by strong demand for memory chips, including those used in artificial intelligence servers and hard drives.
Samsung Electronics' mobile and other devices businesses posted sales of 42.7 trillion won ($31 billion) and operating profit of 2.7 trillion won in the second quarter.
