Samsung's Q3 results beat expectations, chip slump easing off

Samsung released its preliminary Q3 results, highlighted by a smaller-than-expected profit drop of 78%. Samsung's operating profit for the months of July through September was 2.4 trillion won ($1.79b) - down sharply from the 10.85 trillion won of the same period in 2023. The reasons behind the yearly slump are a slowing global economy and greatly reduced chip demand.

However, Samsung's profit in Q3 was considerably more than the 640 billion won first quarter (the lowest since 2009), and the 670 billion won second quarter. Samsung's 2.4 trillion won operating profit beat the 2.1 trillion won LSEG SmartEstimate forecast.

As the pandemic-driven boom for chips dropped off, chip prices plummeted, causing a major economic hit on Samsung - the world's leading memory chip producer.

Samsung managed to offset the losses by focusing on more profitable and higher-end chips, like DRAM, and continuing to cut production of older legacy chips.

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