Samsung says AI to drive know-how demand in second half By Reuters

By Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang

SEOUL (Reuters) -Samsung Electronics mentioned on Tuesday it anticipated demand for synthetic intelligence to carry sturdy within the second half, driving gross sales of reminiscence chips and tech gadgets, because it reported a greater than 10-fold rise in first-quarter working revenue.

The South Korean firm’s reminiscence chip gross sales practically doubled within the first quarter from a 12 months earlier as costs rose steeply from a extreme downturn, because of the increase in AI.

“Within the second half of 2024, enterprise situations are anticipated to stay optimistic with demand – primarily round generative AI – holding sturdy, regardless of continued volatility referring to macroeconomic developments and geopolitical points,” Samsung (KS:) mentioned in a press release.

The world’s greatest maker of reminiscence chips and TVs mentioned working revenue rose to six.6 trillion gained ($4.8 billion) in January-March, up from 640 billion gained a 12 months earlier.

That was consistent with Samsung’s personal estimate of 6.6 trillion gained flagged earlier this month, its highest working revenue for the reason that third quarter of 2022.

It cemented a restoration from an unprecedented reminiscence chip downturn attributable to weak post-pandemic demand for devices that use chips.

The chip division, traditionally Samsung’s money cow enterprise that used to make up two-thirds of the corporate’s working revenue, swung to revenue of 1.91 trillion gained within the March quarter from a 4.58 trillion gained loss a 12 months earlier.

First-quarter income rose 13% to 71.9 trillion gained, the corporate mentioned, together with a 96% enhance in reminiscence chip income to 17.49 trillion gained.

($1 = 1,374.1900 gained)