Samsung Electronics on Jan. 9 announced preliminary results for last year, reporting annual sales of 258.16 trillion won and operating profit of 6.54 trillion won. Compared to 2022, annual sales fell 14.58 percent from 302.23 trillion won and operating profit dropped 84.92 percent from 43.38 trillion won. However, the company’s performance has been improving rapidly, attributed to the recovery of the semiconductor industry due to the decline in memory semiconductor inventories.
According to Samsung, the company posted preliminary results for the fourth quarter of last year with sales of 67 trillion won and operating profit of 2.8 trillion won. Compared to the same period a year earlier, sales decreased by 0.59 percent, while operating profit increased by 15.23 percent. Unlike the previous quarters, where on-year performance was stagnant, the fourth quarter was on track to return to the levels of the previous year.
Samsung’s quarterly performance for 2023 is showing rapid improvement after facing challenges from increased memory semiconductor inventory and weak demand for IT devices amid the global economic downturn. The operating profit dropped from 4.31 trillion won in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 640 billion won in the first quarter of last year but has since steadily risen to 670 billion won in the second quarter, 2.43 trillion won in the third quarter, and 2.8 trillion won in the fourth quarter, marking three consecutive quarters of improvement.
The improvement is attributed to the recovery of the semiconductor industry. As the effects of memory production cuts become apparent and excess inventory is cleared, Samsung’s semiconductor business is showing signs of improvement. Samsung’s Device Solutions (DS) division, responsible for the company’s chip business, struggled in the first half of last year, posting a loss of more than 9 trillion won, but a substantial performance improvement is estimated to have taken place since the fourth quarter. Some analysts even anticipate that it may have turned a profit in the fourth quarter.
