Samsung Electronics released Thursday its preliminary earnings for the first quarter of 2022.
The company said it forecasts to report consolidated revenue of $63.1 billion (77 trillion KRW) and an operating profit of about $11.6 billion (14.1 trillion KRW) for the quarter ended March. Those numbers are up from the first quarter of 2021, which generated sales of $53.6 billion and an operating profit of $7.6 billion.
The Korean tech giant is expected to post its highest first-quarter operating profit since 2018, representing a 50% rise from last year’s first quarter, according to Reuters. This beats the operating profit of $10.9 billion (13.4 trillion KRW) Bloomberg’s analysts had expected. Sales, which is likely to top the prior record of $62.8 billion (76.6 trillion KRW) in 4Q22, is also above market expectation, approximately $61.4 billion (74.9 trillion KRW) estimated by S&P Market Intelligence analysts, per WSJ.
The sales and profits are in line with robust demand for memory chips and Samsung’s latest lineup, the Galaxy S22.
The Korean firm, which produces DRAM and NAND memory chips, seems to have benefited from solid chip demand from consumers despite the recent price drop in semiconductor chips, according to analysts cited by Reuter. DRAM prices could drop in 2Q 22 due to inflation and the continuing Russia-Ukraine war; NAND price is expected to rise approximately 5% to 10% in the second quarter of this year following a raw material contamination issue at a joint venture facility of Japan’s Kioxia and the U.S-based Western Digital, which disrupted NAND flash production, per TrendForce.
Samsung said Wednesday the sales of the Galaxy S22 series are likely to exceed 1 million units in South Korea by the end of this week. The firm is also expected to have shipped more than 6 million units of the S22 series by the end of March after its launch in February, Sujeong Lim, an associate director at research firm Counterpoint, told Reuters.
The company will announce its full Q1 earnings results on April 28.
