Samsung Electronics exceeded analysts’ expectations in its first-quarter results, with a 10% increase in revenue and a 1.5% rise in operating profit. The company’s quarterly revenue reached 79.1 trillion Korean won ($55.4 billion), slightly surpassing both its forecast and analysts’ estimates of 78.1 trillion Korean won. Operating profit was 6.7 trillion Korean won, beating the anticipated 6.4 trillion Korean won. Samsung’s chip business continued to perform strongly, driven by increased sales of server DRAM and NAND chips, which saw rising demand amid the growing interest in artificial intelligence.
Despite strong overall performance, Samsung flagged macroeconomic risks, including trade tensions and global growth concerns, which it said could impact future earnings. The company’s leadership expressed caution regarding the ongoing geopolitical uncertainties, particularly the potential business impact from tariffs and export controls, especially in light of U.S. policies. However, they also forecast an improved performance in the second half of the year, assuming these uncertainties ease.
Samsung’s chip division, which plays a pivotal role in the company’s success, posted an operating profit of 1.1 trillion Korean won in the first quarter. Although this marked a decline compared to the previous quarter and year, revenue increased year-over-year. Demand for DRAM and NAND memory chips surged, fueled by the artificial intelligence boom. Despite this, Samsung noted that its chip earnings were impacted by a decrease in average selling prices, with U.S. export controls on AI chips also affecting sales.
In the smartphone sector, Samsung’s mobile business experienced a 10% year-over-year growth in sales, with strong performance from its latest Galaxy S25 smartphone series, which features enhanced AI capabilities. This contributed to a 43% increase in sales compared to the previous quarter. Samsung plans to continue this momentum in the upcoming quarter with the launch of a new Galaxy S25 Edge smartphone and the continued expansion of AI-powered features in its devices.
The company’s memory business is facing increasing competition, particularly from SK Hynix, which recently surpassed Samsung in the DRAM market. However, Samsung is focused on improving its products and ramping up its research and development efforts to close the gap, especially in high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI servers.
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