"Rising memory prices... outlook for this year's operating profit for Samsung and SK hynix revised up," says Daishin Securities

According to Financial News, Daishin Securities said of South Korea's key memory maker Samsung Electronics, "Reflecting the upward revision in our memory price outlook, we are raising this year's operating profit forecast from 171 trillion won to 201 trillion won."
On the 23rd, Hyungkeun Ryu, an analyst at Daishin Securities, explained, "This year will be a landmark year, as Samsung regains the top spot in memory operating profit in the first quarter and opens an era of annual operating profit in the 200 trillion won range."
Daishin Securities expects the average selling prices (ASPs) of standard dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash memory this year to rise 154% and 89%, respectively, compared with a year earlier. With its advantage of maximum production capacity, Samsung Electronics is in an environment where it can expect improved profitability. In high bandwidth memory (HBM)4 as well, Samsung Electronics has succeeded in the world's first mass production and shipment of HBM4 and has the advantage of achieving 11.7 Gbps (gigabits per second). Market analysts also note that if the market segments based on speed, Samsung could leverage this speed advantage to seek further ASP increases.
Ryu stated, "In memory, profitability is expected to reach an all-time high," adding, "We expect profitability to surpass the peak seen during the 2017–2018 super cycle." He went on, "Although there are lingering concerns about weaker profitability in the set business due to rising component prices, growth in the semiconductor and display businesses will drive strong improvement in overall corporate earnings."
The memory boom is also expected to boost earnings at another memory maker, SK hynix. Ryu said, "We are raising this year's operating profit forecast from 142 trillion won to 174 trillion won," and added, "The company will show the strongest profitability since its founding."
Ryu commented, "There are persistent concerns about weak set shipments due to memory inflation, but given the extremely wide gap between supply and demand, strong prices are likely to continue."
Regarding HBM4, he assessed, "It is highly unlikely that SK hynix, which has stable supply capabilities, will be excluded from the supply chain," adding, "Product certification is expected to be completed within the first quarter of this year, and its status as a main vendor will continue throughout the year."

soup@fnnews.com Lim Su-bin Reporter