- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
- Lebanon doctors tell of horror after pager blasts
- McIlroy eyes Wentworth glory after Irish Open collapse
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ |
Samsung reports 53% jump in profit despite supply chain woes
South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics said Thursday its operating profit rose 53.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, as record sales helped overcome pandemic-induced supply chain challenges.
The world's biggest smartphone maker said its operating profit rose to 13.87 trillion won ($11.55 billion) for the October-December period in 2021, up from nine trillion won in the same quarter the previous year.
Thanks to high memory chip prices and strong consumer demand, Samsung had its highest annual sales of 279.6 trillion won in 2021, an 18 percent jump from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Samsung achieved "record sales thanks to competitive products, despite continuing uncertainty," the tech giant said in a statement, singling out solid demand for its premium smartphone lines.
While the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the global economy, it has helped many tech companies boom.
Pandemic-driven working from home has boosted demand for devices powered by Samsung's chips, as well as home appliances such as televisions and washing machines.
The world's biggest memory chip maker, Samsung Electronics has aggressively stepped up investment in its semiconductor business as the world battles chip shortages that have hit everything from cars and home appliances to smartphones and gaming consoles.
The global chip supply shortage is expected to persist well into the new year, analysts have said.
- Growing demand -
"In the Memory Business, demand is expected to grow as enterprises ramp up IT investments while the Company will expand supply of high-performance products," Samsung said.
In November Samsung announced a new microchip factory in Texas, a $17 billion investment. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2024.
Samsung is also investing in the development of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics, as well as 5G and 6G communications.
Park Sung-soon, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities, said that memory chip prices were likely to decline in the first half of 2022.
"Samsung's profit is likely to dip for the January-June period. But we also expect chip prices to turn around in the second half, giving a boost to company profits," he said.
"We had forecast around a 10 percent fall in chip prices in the first months of 2022 but it appears now that the decline scope will be smaller with solid demands for PCs and improved supply chains."
Consumer demand for high-end products, such as foldable phones, also helped to further boost profits around the holiday season.
Samsung said it expected the smartphone and premium television market to grow in the third year of the pandemic, though it anticipated sustained "uncertainties triggered by COVID 19 and supply and logistics issues".
Operating profits generated from Samsung's semiconductor business accounted for over 63.7 percent of the Q4 total, illustrating the major role the division plays in the sprawling group.
Samsung's operating profit from the semiconductor division stood at 8.8 trillion won for the October-December period.
Samsung Electronics is the flagship subsidiary of the giant Samsung group, by far the largest of the family-controlled empires known as chaebols that dominate business in South Korea.
The conglomerate's overall turnover is equivalent to around one-fifth of South Korea's gross domestic product.
Samsung Electronics' record sales last year came as Lee Jae-yong, the firm's vice-chairman and the de facto leader of the wider Samsung conglomerate, returned to management on parole release from prison last August.
Lee had spent over half of a two and a half year sentence for bribery, embezzlement and other offences in connection with a corruption scandal that brought down ex-South Korean president Park Geun-hye before his release.
His return to management has eased concerns over decision-making at Samsung.
B.Shevchenko--BTB