-- Samsung Electronics' (KRX:005930) operating income surged eightfold in the first quarter, an all-time high, as sales rose to a quarterly record.
Operating income surged 756% to 57.2 trillion won, up 756% from 6.69 trillion won a year earlier, according to a Thursday filing with the Korea Exchange.
LSEG SmartEstimate forecast operating profit of 55.28 trillion won, CNBC reported separately.
The South Korean chipmaker's sales jumped 69% year over year to an all-time quarterly high of 133.9 trillion won from 79.14 trillion won.
Forecasts by LSEG SmartEstimate showed revenue to have reached 132.69 trillion won, according to CNBC.
Samsung Electronics' device solutions division posted an operating profit of 53.7 trillion won as sales surged 86% quarterly to 81.7 trillion won, due to an increase in average selling prices, according to a Thursday news release.
The company's semiconductor arm surpassed quarterly sales by addressing high-value-added artificial intelligence demand. Industry-wide memory price increases also contributed to the surge, Samsung said.
Results at the semiconductor unit also surpassed the average analyst estimate of 35.3 trillion won, Bloomberg reported separately the same day.
The device experience division's sales rose 19% on the launch of Samsung's new flagship smartphones.
Sales in the area also grew despite an increase in cost pressures, Samsung said.
The display division's operating profit reached 400 billion won, while consolidated revenue reached 6.7 trillion won.
Its small and medium display business saw lower results due to seasonal effects and high memory prices.
The mobile or MX business, saw profit rise to 2.8 trillion won while sales jumped to 38.1 trillion won, attributable to a "premium product mix," Samsung said.
Samsung Electronics forecasts semiconductors to steer growth in the second quarter, with the memory business expected to stay strong despite AI infrastructure expansion in the three months through June.
Memory demand is seen to stay strong in the second half with increasing adoption of AI and large language model services, Samsung said.
By the second quarter, Samsung forecasts full use of advanced-node production lines.