Samsung Electronics Co.'s operating profit jumped more than 10-fold year-on-year in the first quarter of this year as its chip business turned profitable for the first time in five quarters in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The company said in a regulatory filing that its operating profit reached 6.6 trillion won (US$4.8 billion) in the January-March period this year, compared with 640.2 billion won (about US$460 million) in the same period last year, representing a 943 percent increase.
Samsung Electronics' sales reached 71.9 trillion won ($52.3 billion) in the first quarter, up 12.8 percent from the same period last year, while net profit rose 329 percent to 6.75 trillion won ($4.9 billion) over the same period.
Its operating profit topped market expectations of 5.9 trillion won ($4.3 billion), according to Reuters.
Samsung said it invested 7.82 trillion won ($5.7 billion) in research and development for the first quarter ended in March, marking the largest quarterly investment on record.
It said its chip business posted 23.1 trillion won ($17 billion) in sales in the January-March period with operating profit of 1.91 trillion won ($1.4 billion).
