Samsung announces first quarter 2024 financial results

Recently, Samsung announced its financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2024. Samsung reported that buoyed by robust sales of its flagship Galaxy S24 series smartphones and a rise in the prices of memory semiconductors, its mobile business saw increased earnings. Additionally, profitability in its display and digital appliances sectors improved, while the memory business turned profitable by meeting the market demand for high-value-added products. However, the weak position of the Korean Won against major currencies slightly impacted profits.

The financial statement revealed that Samsung’s revenue for the first quarter of 2024 was 71.92 trillion Korean Won, an increase of 12.82% over the previous year’s 63.75 trillion Won and also higher than the last quarter’s 67.78 trillion Won. Operating profit was 6.61 trillion Won, a staggering 931.87% increase over the previous year’s 640 billion Won, and more than double the last quarter’s 2.82 trillion Won. Gross profit reached 26.03 trillion Won, exceeding both the previous year’s 17.74 trillion and last quarter’s 21.66 trillion Won. Net profit was 6.75 trillion Won, slightly higher than last quarter’s 6.34 trillion Won, and a sharp 329% increase from the previous year’s 1.57 trillion Won.

As one of the world’s largest chip manufacturers, the semiconductor business has historically been a cash cow for Samsung. However, the global slump in memory chips last year led to significant losses for Samsung. With increasing demand for memory chips, Samsung’s semiconductor business has finally rebounded this quarter. The DS division reported revenue of 23.14 trillion Won and an operating profit of 1.91 trillion Won, marking the division’s return to profitability since 2022.

Samsung anticipates that with the end of the prolonged downturn and driven by the demand for artificial intelligence (AI), revenue in the DS division will return to its 2022 levels, thereby driving the group’s profit growth.