Shares of Samsung Electronics rose as much as 4.8% on Tuesday after the South Korean technology giant forecast record quarterly profit amid strong demand for artificial intelligence chips. Shares later pared gains to trade up 0.52%.
In its preliminary earnings guidance, Samsung projected its operating profit for the January-March quarter to reach 57.2 trillion won ($37.8 billion), up more than eightfold from just 6.69 trillion won a year ago.
That profit, if it comes to fruition, would represent a quarterly record — nearly three times the previous high — and would exceed estimates of 42.3 trillion won from LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.
Meanwhile, the company’s estimated consolidated revenue was projected to surge nearly 70% from a year ago to 133 trillion Korean won.
Samsung’s upbeat guidance was likely driven by its memory chip business, particularly demand for high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI computing.
