Samsung Electronics faced a decline in profits for the sixth consecutive quarter worldwide, due to low demand for electronics.
South Korea's largest conglomerate reported a 35% drop in revenue to 2.8 trillion won (~$2.5 billion). This beat the 3.7 trillion won (~$2.5 billion) analysts had forecast. Total revenue came in at 67 trillion won (~$61 billion), slightly below the 70.31 trillion won (~$64 billion) forecast.
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The results suggest that demand for smartphones and the memory chips that power modern electronic devices remains low due to economic uncertainty.
In December, rival Technology presented an upbeat revenue forecast, suggesting that growth in the data center market could offset declines in the PC and mobile device markets.
In October, Samsung predicted that the $160 billion memory market, despite the Great Recession, will gradually recover by 2024, driven by the explosion in artificial intelligence. Prices are expected to rise as the recovery begins and demand increases.
The company is set to publish an extensive earnings report with breakdowns of various divisions by the end of this month.
The company is seeking to compete with rival SK Hynix in the growing memory chip sector and aims to increase capacity by 2.5 times by 2024.
HBM is an advanced chip that processes data at a faster rate. It works with hardware from the likes of Nvidia Corp. to speed up data processing for demanding tasks, such as training artificial intelligence models.
Samsung is also counting on a new line of devices and foldable devices for development in 2024.
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The Korean company is preparing to unveil its new innovative devices in the US later this month, while investors are expressing concern about the possibility of a lack of interest in Apple just a few months after its launch.
Source: businesstimes.com
