Samsung’s Q3 profit misses forecasts on weak AI chip performance

Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday its operating profit in the third quarter nearly tripled, but fell short of market expectations due to weak performance in its high-end memory chips used in artificial intelligence-based computing.

The world’s largest memory chipmaker said in a regulatory filing that it expects to post an operating profit of 9.1 trillion won (US$6.8 billion) in the third quarter, up 274.5 percent from the same period last year.

But compared with the second quarter, its operating profit fell 12.8 percent.

Its revenue rose 17.2 percent to a record 79 trillion won in the July-September period. The company did not disclose net profit data.

Yonhap Infomax reported that Samsung Electronics’ operating profit was 11.7 percent lower than the median estimate.

Experts speculate that Samsung’s underperforming performance is due to slowing memory chip exports due to shrinking sales of smartphones and personal computers.

The company’s sluggish performance in its high-bandwidth memory business also weighed heavily on its third-quarter performance.

The company did not disclose a detailed earnings report for its business divisions, but the market expects the company’s semiconductor business to post an operating profit of around 5.3 trillion won in the third quarter.

The company will release its final earnings report later this month.