Samsung’s profits grow 79 percent, but semiconductor business stumbles

While Samsung’s legal problems are likely to have people back in Suwon concerned, its current financial picture is a lot rosier. The company posted another record quarter, earning ₩6.72 trillion in operating profit (about $5.86 billion) on ₩47.6 trillion (about $41.5 billion) in revenues — narrowly beating its predictions from earlier this month. That’s 79 percent more profit than the company pulled in last year at this time, made even more impressive by the comparatively small increase in revenue of only 21 percent. However, Bloomberg reports that profits still fell short of analysts’ expectations, which were about 6 percent higher.

Samsung’s handset business in particular saw a 75 percent jump in revenues over the same time last year, but the picture isn’t so encouraging for the semiconductor business, which saw a 6-percent decline. Samsung says weak demand for PC DRAM chips and falling prices for the NAND flash used in SSDs and mobile phones were to blame. The company doesn’t expect the situation to improve next quarter either, pointing to “lackluster back-to-school orders” and intensifying competition.