SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that weaker demand for its televisions and other home appliances offset hard-earned gains from a slowly recovering computer chip market, leading to lower operating results in the previous quarter. It reported a 34% annual decline in profits.
The South Korean technology giant said it expected its performance to improve throughout 2024, as it forecasts growing demand for semiconductors that power artificial intelligence features increasingly used in smartphones, personal computers and other products. Ta. However, macroeconomic uncertainty may continue to impact the company's operations in the short term.
Samsung's operating profit for the three months to December was measured at 2.8 trillion won ($2.1 billion), compared with 4.3 trillion won ($3.2 billion) a year earlier. Operating profit for the full year 2023 was 6.5 trillion won ($4.8 billion), down 85% from 2022 and the company's lowest level since 2008, when global markets were weathering the financial crisis.
The company's semiconductor division posted a loss of 14.9 trillion won ($11 billion) in 2023, but the loss narrowed in the fourth quarter as the DRAM business turned profitable. The company announced in October that it plans to more than double its production capacity for advanced high-bandwidth memory chips in 2024 to meet the demand created by AI.
“In 2024, we expect the memory business to continue to see market recovery despite various potential obstacles such as interest rate policy and geopolitical issues,” Samsung said in a statement.
The company is also focused on increasing sales of its latest smartphone, the Galaxy S24, which comes with a series of new features enabled by AI, including live translation during calls in 13 languages and 17 dialects.
