Some Money
The Device Solutions (DS) Division of Samsung Electronics, which is in charge of semiconductor and display businesses, set new business records in the third quarter of this year while the IT& Mobile (IM) Division responsible for smartphone became a disappointment again.
Samsung Electronics announced on October 29 that its DS Division recorded 4.65 trillion won in operating profits in that quarter to allow the company to make a recovery for the fifth consecutive quarter. The semiconductor segment of the DS Division earned 3.66 trillion won in profits, equivalent to almost half of the total quarterly profits of Samsung Electronics. The semiconductor segment set a new profit record in five years as well and broke the 12 trillion won mark for the first time in terms of quarterly sales revenue. In the third quarter of 2010, its operating profits had totaled 3.42 trillion won. In the third quarter of this year, the sales revenue added up to 12.82 trillion won.
The company explained that it could deal with a decline in memory chip price with cutting-edge technology such as the world’s first commercial 48-layer VNAND. The display segment also increased its sales of OLED panels and the like to external customers in the countries including China by more than 30% quarter on quarter to post 930 billion won in operating profits.
On the contrary, the IM Division’s operating profits fell by 360 billion won to 2.4 trillion won between the second and third quarters of this year. Although it succeeded in increasing its mobile phone sales volume to 105 million units, the average selling price that dropped to US$180 dragged down the profits.
The Consumer Electronics (CE) Division has showed a gradual recovery since Q2. Its business profits jumped from 210 billion won to 360 billion won between Q2 and Q3. Samsung Electronics, in the meantime, is predicted to make a capital investment of 27 trillion won this year, up 14% from a year ago. 15 trillion won and 5.5 trillion won are scheduled to go to the semiconductor and display segments, respectively.