Samsung’s semiconductor division has fallen deep into the red: In the first quarter of 2023, it made an operating loss of 4.58 trillion won, according to the current exchange rate -3.11 billion euros. Both the memory production and the chip order production for other companies went badly.
Within three months, sales of the semiconductor division (Device Solutions, DS) fell from almost 20.1 trillion (13.6 billion euros) to 13.7 trillion won (9.3 billion euros). The share of sales from storage production was 60 percent at the end of 2022 and 65 percent at the beginning of 2023. That said, chip custom manufacturing (Samsung Foundry) and manufacturing of other chips like controllers was even worse.
Samsung writes in the annual reportthat almost all DS parts shrank: NAND flash for SSDs and smartphone components, DRAM for memory sticks and also smartphones as well as all kinds of controllers and sensors. Only the production of mobile systems-on-chips (SoCs) is said to have increased.
The two major storage competitors are doing just as badly: Micron made a net loss of 2.31 billion US dollars (2.1 billion euros) in the same period, SK Hynix of 2.59 trillion won (1.8 billion euros).
High-end Exynos processors are making a return
Samsung expects sales to remain sluggish in the second quarter. The market should only recover in the second half of the year. The company is hiding big news in the announcement: the System LSI (Large-Scale Integration) division is again designing its own Exynos processors for high-end smartphones, which Samsung Foundry will probably produce. In the current Galaxy S23 generation, Samsung has abandoned the Exynos processors in favor of Qualcomm’s Snapdragons.
The Device Experience (DX) and Mobile Experience (MX) divisions have recently grown again. MX includes all mobile devices (i.e. primarily Galaxy smartphones), DX all other electronic devices such as Smart TVs and kitchen appliances.
MX had a turnover of 31.8 trillion won (21.6 billion euros), DX 46.2 trillion (31.4 billion euros) – an increase of 18 and 8 percent respectively from the previous quarter. Compared to the previous year, sales declined slightly in each case.
Breakdown of Samsung’s revenue and operating results by division. DX = Device Experience (Smart TVs, kitchen appliances, other electronics), MX = Mobile Experience (smartphones, tablets), VD = Visual Display, DA = Digital Appliances, SDC = Samsung Display Company.
(Image: Samsung)
The sale of smart TVs and PC monitors was just about profitable again after a minus quarter. Pure panel production (Samsung Display Company, SDC), on the other hand, had to give up feathers with a minus of 29 percent within three months – it took in 6.6 trillion won (4.5 billion euros).
Overall, the Samsung group turned over 63.75 trillion won, the equivalent of 43.34 billion euros. 1.57 trillion won (1.07 billion euros) remained as net profit – the profitable divisions were still able to intercept the semiconductor subsidiaries. The stock exchange reacted to the annual report with a minimal plus.
(mma)
