Seoul, Jan. 27, (dpa/AFX/GNA) – Samsung reported a profit for the fourth quarter that climbed 65.13 percent from the previous year, reflecting higher sales of memory chips and higher margins in chip contract manufacturing.
Quarterly sales rose 24.39 percent from the prior year. Samsung said that it will focus on improving its advanced process yield to improve its supply stability in the first quarter.
Also, the company will continue technical leadership through mass production of the 1st generation GAA process in the first half of 2022.
Looking ahead to the first quarter, Samsung forecasts improved results year-on-year for the mobile panel business, reflecting a release of new smartphones by its major customers and a growing customer base in the foldable display.
In the large panel business, losses are expected to be partially mitigated on the mass production of QD displays as TVs and monitors adopting QD displays are to make debut in the markets.
Looking ahead to the first quarter, demand for smartphones and tablets is forecast to decline quarter-on-quarter amid weak seasonality as well as uncertainties over component supply.
In the first quarter, market demand is expected to decrease year-on-year for both TVs and home appliances and high material and logistics costs are expected to persist for home appliances.
In 2022, while market uncertainties are projected to remain, Samsung expects stronger demand for premium and super large TVs.
In 2022, the Memory Business expects server demand to grow, attributed to increase in IT investments and new high-core CPUs, while 5G lineup expansion is likely to increase content-per-box for mobile, although challenges related to supply issues and COVID-19 are likely to persist.
The South Korean electronics giant reported that its net income attributable to the shareholders of the parent company for the fourth-quarter climbed 65.13 percent to 10.64 trillion Korean won from 6.45 trillion won in the same quarter last year.
Operating profit for the quarter grew 53.28 percent to 13.87 trillion won from the previous year, driven by the semiconductor businesses.
Sales for the fourth-quarter were 76.57 trillion won, a 24.39 percent increase from a year earlier, driven mainly by the finished product businesses, with expanded sales of premium smartphones, including foldable phones, as well as TVs and home appliances.
The semiconductor businesses posted 26.01 trillion won in consolidated revenue and 8.84 trillion won in operating profit in the fourth quarter.
The Display Panel Business reported 9.06 trillion won in consolidated revenue and 1.32 trillion won in operating profit for the fourth quarter.
The mobile panel business saw its earnings continue to improve, primarily driven by solid demand for newly launched smartphones from its key customers.
GNA