Samsung registers 129.85% jump in operating profit for Q4 despite struggles with ‘soft market conditions’

South Korean electronics giant Samsung reported a staggering 129.85 per cent year-on-year surge for the fourth quarter ending in December.
It registered a growth of 6.5 trillion won, in its operating profits on Friday, against 2.82 trillion won, over the corresponding period last year.
However, this growth in the fourth quarter was still low from its previous quarter for 2024 which stood at 9.18 trillion won, amid struggles in fulfilling demand for chips used in artificial intelligence servers.
This announcement follows the company’s announcement in October, when it admitted going through a “crisis” and concerns were raised about its “fundamental technological competitiveness and the future of the company”.
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The company recorded a net income growth of 22.2 per cent from the previous year at 7.75 trillion won.
Sales also followed an upward momentum with a 11.8 percent growth at 75.78 trillion won.
AFP reported that the company’s net profit was higher than expected, according to Yonhap News Agency, which cited its own financial data firm.
Why did the profits dip from the previous quarters ?
Samsung, the family-controlled conglomerates that dominate Asia’s fourth-largest economy, said that the dip in profits from the previous quarter was due to “soft market conditions especially for IT products, and an increase in expenditures including R&D.”
“In the first quarter of 2025… overall earnings improvement may be limited due to weakness in the semiconductors business,” it added.
It has also been facing tough competition from its Korean rival SK hynix, which is US tech giant Nvidia’s main supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM).
Samsung has been falling short of meeting Nvidia’s requirements.
Gloria Tsuen, a Moody’s Ratings vice president and senior credit officer toldd AFP that Samsung’s technology leadership “in the semiconductor market has been eroded over the last few years.”
“The rapidly increasing demand for AI chips also heightens the technological difficulty in developing new, custom-made chips for customers in a timely manner,” she added.