Samsung Q2 profit drops 55% on weak AI chip sales, China curbs

[SEOUL] Samsung Electronics reported on Thursday a 55 per cent drop in second-quarter operating profit as delays in high-bandwidth memory chip shipments and US export curbs on advanced chip sales to China continued to drag on its key semiconductor division.

The world’s largest memory chip maker posted 4.7 trillion won (S$4.4 billion) in operating profit for the April-June period.

The result was roughly in line with its earlier estimate of 4.6 trillion won, which had disappointed investors.

Its revenue rose 0.7 per cent to 74.6 trillion won, in line with its earlier estimate of 74 trillion won.

Prolonged weakness in its financial performance has deepened investor concerns over the South Korean tech giant’s ability to catch up with smaller rivals in developing high-bandwidth memory chips sold to customers including Nvidia and used in artificial intelligence data centres.

Samsung reported earnings just days after Tesla said it had signed a US$16.5 billion deal to source chips from the tech giant, a move that could bolster the South Korean company’s struggling foundry business that makes chips on contract. REUTERS