Memory Chip Business Likely to Remain Solid
Samsung Electronics announced on April 29 that its Q1 sales and operating profit are 55.33 trillion won and 6.45 trillion won, respectively. The figures fell to some extent from the previous quarter due to seasonal factors and the spread of COVID-19. However, the respective figures increased 6 percent and 3.5 percent as compared with the same period of the previous year.
The semiconductor business unit posted an operating profit of 3.99 trillion won and the mobile phone business unit’s operating profit reached 2.65 trillion won. Despite the pandemic, the consumer electronics business unit recorded an operating profit of 450 billion won. However, Samsung Display posted a loss of 290 billion won and Harman recorded a loss of 190 billion won due to temporary facility relocation in Europe as well as seasonal factors.
The impact of COVID-19 on the sales and operating profit of the company is likely to be fully witnessed in the second and subsequent quarters. Samsung Electronics vice president Suh Byung-hoon remarked that an enterprise-wide performance decline might occur in the second quarter due to the impact. Still, experts point out that the memory chip business unit of the company will remain solid as the coronavirus is resulting in more and more online economic activities leading to an increase in data consumption and server memory chip demand.