Samsung Net Profit Zooms 64% In 3rd Quarter

Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday reported strong third-quarter earnings on the continued robust performance of its key semiconductor business, which took up 64 percent of the total operating profit, Woo Jae-yeon reported for the South Korean Yonhap news agency.

Photo Insert: Operating profit from the semiconductor unit stood at 10.06 trillion won in the third quarter, more than double the 5 trillion won a year ago.

Its net profit rose 31.3 percent from a year earlier to 12.29 trillion won (US$10.5 billion) in the July-September period, the world's largest memory chip and smartphone vendor said in a regulatory filing.

Operating profit jumped 28 percent from a year ago to 15.82 trillion won, the largest since the third quarter of 2018 and the second-highest ever. Sales hit a quarterly record of 73.98 trillion won, up from 66.96 trillion won from a year earlier.

The company's strong performance was powered largely by its chip business that has continued to show solid growth, with rising memory chip prices, enhanced yield rates, and improved profitability at its chip contract manufacturing business.

The weak Korean won also contributed to the company's top and bottom lines. The company said strong DRAM demand and an improved foundry business led to a "significant improvement in earnings" in the memory business.

Operating profit from the semiconductor unit stood at 10.06 trillion won in the third quarter, more than double the 5 trillion won a year ago.

"The overall price situation remained favorable and the company set a new record for quarterly bit shipments and the second-highest revenue for DRAM, backed in particular by significant growth in server sales," the company said.

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