Samsung Semiconductors Are Back... HBM4 Shipments Planned in the First Quarter of This Year (2nd Report)

[Financial News] In the fourth quarter of last year, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. recorded operating profit of 16.4 trillion won in its semiconductor Device Solutions Division, achieving the highest quarterly operating profit in its history. This performance was driven by increased sales of high value-added High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) products and rising memory prices. In the first quarter of this year, the company aims to gain the upper hand in the HBM market by beginning mass production and shipment of HBM4, its next-generation sixth‐generation HBM product.
Samsung Electronics announced on the 29th that its consolidated revenue for the fourth quarter of last year reached 93.8 trillion won, with operating profit of 20.1 trillion won. Revenue in the finished products DX (Device eXperience) Division fell 8% quarter-on-quarter due to reduced impact from new smartphone model launches. However, revenue in the Device Solutions Division jumped 33% from the previous quarter, driving overall quarterly earnings improvement. In the fourth quarter of last year, the Device Solutions Division posted 44 trillion won in revenue and 16.4 trillion won in operating profit.
More specifically, in the fourth quarter of last year, the memory business actively responded to strong demand for general-purpose Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and expanded HBM sales, resulting in record-high quarterly revenue and operating profit.
Operating profit also increased as memory prices rose and sales of high value-added products such as server Double Data Rate 5 Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DDR5) and enterprise Solid-state drive (SSD) expanded.
System LSI saw its results decline quarter-on-quarter due to seasonal demand changes. However, revenue grew in image sensors thanks to increased sales of new 200‐megapixel products and 50‐megapixel big‐pixel products. In the foundry business, revenue increased as mass production of first‐generation 2 nm process products got fully underway and demand from customers in the United States and China remained strong, but profitability improvement was limited due to provisioning costs.
For the first quarter of this year, the semiconductor business is expected to continue its growth, led by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and servers. Samsung Electronics plans to closely monitor uncertainties in the macro environment, including global tariffs, while maintaining a stable management stance focused on securing profitability.
Within the Device Solutions Division, the memory business expects solid market conditions across the industry on the back of strong AI-related demand. The company intends to respond actively to market needs, focusing on high value-added products.
Samsung Electronics also plans to lead the market by beginning mass production and shipment of HBM4, including an industry-leading 11.7 Gbps (gigabits per second) product.
soup@fnnews.com Reporter Lim Soo-bin Reporter