Samsung Electronics announced its Q1 earnings tonight and for the three-month period, the company reported an all-time high in quarterly revenue. The top line number came to KRW 79.14 trillion ($57.36 billion) thanks to strong sales of its latest Galaxy S25 flagship series. The phones were introduced on January 22nd and were released on February 7th. Operating profit was reported to be KRW 6.7 trillion ($4.89 billion). Samsung’s quarterly results were originally reported in Korean Won (KRW) and we converted them to US Dollars.
The company’s Research & Development spending hit an all-time high on 2024 and this trend continued in the first quarter as such expenditures rose 16% from last year’s Q1 to 9 trillion won ($6.3 billion). Samsung’s Device Solutions business which includes semiconductors and displays, generated KRW 25.1 trillion in revenue and KRW 1.1 trillion in operating profits ($17.52 billion and $770.3 million respectively).
The memory business was negatively impacted by a decline in average selling price (ASP) and a drop in sales of High Bandwidth Memory chips. These feature a stacked architecture to deliver higher bandwidth while lowering power consumption. Strong demand for AI related chips is forecast for the current quarter. To meet this demand, Samsung will launch new GPUs. These are used for AI because they excel at simultaneous processing with multiple tasks handled at the same time. CPUs handle tasks sequentially which is why they are not used for AI processing. Supporting AI, Samsung will offer its industry-leading 10.7Gbps LPDDR5x memory chip.
Samsung’s industry-leading 10.7Gbps LPDDR5x RAM chip will help support AI. | Image credit-Samsung
Samsung Foundry was hurt by typically weak seasonal smartphone sales during Q1 although the unit focused on its 2nm Gate-all-around (GAA) process node. With GAA transistors, the gate surrounds the channel on all four sides reducing current leakage and improving the drive current. Samsung Foundry has been working on improving its yields while looking to book 2nm and 4nm orders for AI. Strong demand for mobile and automotive chips in the US will help the unit during Q2.
Mass production in the 2nm node will start in the second half of this year while the foundry seeks to pencil in more business at 2nm and up.
Samsung Display reported Q1 sales of KRW 5.9 trillion and KRW 0.5 trillion in operating profit. In US Dollars that comes to $4.14 billion and $350.57 million respectively. Sequentially, Sammy’s mobile display unit reported lower sales; the company blamed the decline on seasonality. Samsung is hoping to increase Q2 television sales thanks to AI models and the addition of AI features into other units.
On the London Stock Exchange, Samsung’s Global Depository Receipts, each representing 25 common shares, closed at $964 up $2 or .21%.
Read the latest from Alan Friedman
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings