What you need to know
- Samsung announced its Q1 earnings, with a consolidated revenue of 79.14 trillion won ($56 billion), which is up 10% from 2024.
- Despite a great quarter, the company’s DS division saw a dip in revenue, which was around 1.1 trillion Korean won, down from 1.91 trillion won.
- Samsung expects to see a better second half of the year, and said it will focus on innovation (including foldables) and new areas like robotics and AI despite global trade uncertainty.
Samsung Electronics announced its Q1 earnings on Wednesday (April 30), and it seems like the company ended this quarter on a high note. The Korean OEM said its consolidated revenue from January to March 31 was 79.14 trillion won ($56 billion), which is up 10% from 2024 (78.1 trillion Korean won). And the company’s stock prices fell by 0.5% according to Google Finance.
The company also stated that its first-quarter operating revenue was up to 6.7 trillion Korean won, which is around $4.7 billion, 1.5% higher than last year (6.4 trillion Korean won). Samsung stated that this rise in revenue is all thanks to the new Samsung Galaxy S25 series sales and high-value-added home appliances.
This suggests that the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, which launched in January, has been quite popular among smartphone enthusiasts as it is bolstered with Samsung’s latest Galaxy AI and other powerful specs.
However, the operating profit of the company’s DS division, which is responsible for manufacturing semiconductors, saw a decline in revenue. The company announced 1.1 trillion Korean won in revenue for its DS division in the first quarter, down from 1.91 trillion won reported during the same time last year.
“For the Memory Business, revenue was driven by expanded server DRAM sales and the addressing of additional NAND demand amid a perceived bottoming out of the market price,” the company said.
For those unaware, DRAM and NAND are two fundamental types of semiconductors that are used extensively in CPUs, GPUs, computers, and other modern electronics, which run AI on them.
Samsung said in its earnings statement that despite selling more chips this quarter, it saw a dip in revenue due to the lower average selling price (ASP). Additionally, they didn’t sell as many of their AI memory (HBM) chips due to “export controls on AI chips and deferred demand in anticipation of upcoming enhanced HBM3E products.”
Rising tensions due to US tarrifs
During the earnings call, Samsung’s leadership indicated that, due to the recent global economic tension, including the reciprocal tariffs imposed by the U.S., the company had taken a direct hit.
This “led to a slowdown in growth and increased fluctuations in financial markets, raising concerns about the performance of tech companies, especially in the semiconductor industry.”
Looking ahead, the company said that despite the uncertain trade situation, it “will continue to launch top-tier innovative products and services to overcome the challenges and maintain our position as a leading tech company.”
The company confirmed that it will be looking at other areas of innovation and also branch out into new areas like robotics and AI, which will help them keep up with the volatile financial environment.
Speaking of the year ahead, Samsung stated that its overall performance is expected to improve in the second half of the year. Every year, Samsung launches its foldables around July, and we’re expecting to see the same happening this year as well, which could nudge the company’s performance in a better direction. Here’s what we expect to see during the mid-year Samsung Galaxy Unpacked.
