'There must be a lot of users buying Samsung products, that's what exploded.'
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is expected to post its highest first-quarter (Q1) gain since 2018, driven by rapid gains in memory chips following strong demand.
Analyst Refinitiv SmartEstimate estimates operating profits for smartphones and the world's largest maker of memory chips to be as low as 13.3 trillion Won or $10.9 billion in Q1 ending Mac.
It signifies the company's profits will increase by 4% from the 9.38 trillion Won recorded in the previous year, and is the highest profit for Q1 since 2018.
According to the schedule, the South Korean tech giant will announce its Q1 report decision on Thursday local time.
Meanwhile, analysts forecast Samsung's Q1 chip gains of perhaps 7.6 trillion Won, which is more than double the 3.37 trillion Won recorded the previous year and chip trading alone will probably account for roughly half of overall revenue.
In general, chip prices rose more than expected in Q1 although they retreated after gains over the past year if customers kept stock to prevent supply chain congestion.
In addition, Samsung's smartphone commerce profit is budgeted as forecast, which is slightly lower at 4.04 trillion Won from the 4.39 trillion Won recorded in the previous year.
Meanwhile, Greg Roh, head of research at Hyundai Motor Securities said although Samsung has a 30% share in the Russian smartphone market, it will not make a big impression on corporate profits as Russia and Ukraine only account for 2% of Samsung's total.
As is well known, Samsung participated along with several other major Western powers who imposed barriers against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
