Samsung Electronics' quarterly profit soars nearly eightfold as AI chip sales surge.

Samsung Electronics’ quarterly profit surged to nearly eight times the expected amount, highlighting strong demand for memory chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers, despite uncertainty triggered by the war in the Middle East.

The company, a conglomerate business spanning chips to smart phones, reported preliminary operating profit for the March quarter of 57.2 trillion won ($3.79 billion), setting a record high and also exceeding the analysts’ average estimate of 39.3 trillion won. Revenue for the quarter rose to 133 trillion won, above the analysts’ average expectation of 116.8 trillion won. The company will release its full financial statements later this month, including net profit and detailed data by segment.

Samsung Electronics’ shares rose more than 120% last year, but have fallen about 12% since hitting a peak in February, as concerns have grown that the Iran conflict could drive up prices and interest rates and undermine the sustainability of the momentum behind major AI hardware spending.

Large orders from customers led by cloud service providers boosted sales and profit margins. In a report dated April 2, analysts Peter Lee and Jayden Oh at Citigroup wrote that the global average selling price of DRAM jumped 64% in the first quarter from the previous quarter.

After the earnings release, Samsung Electronics’ shares rose 5% in pre-market trading.

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Editor: Liu Mingliang