三星今年市值已缩水约四分之一，因为这家一度占据主导地位的内存芯片制造商难以让其最新芯片获得英伟达(NVDA.US)用于人工智能加速器的认证。这为竞争对手SK海力士和美光科技(MU.US)在利润丰厚的高带宽内存(HBM)领域占据绝对领先地位提供了难得的机会。SK海力士上周公布营业利润7.03万亿韩元，创下了其记录。Challenged by ai chip, Samsung chip profits are disappointing.
It was reported by CNBC that the profit of Samsung Electronics' main chip business was below market expectations, reflecting the difficulty for this south korea technology giant to catch up in the lucrative field of ai chips. Samsung's chip department - typically the biggest contributor to profits - reported an operating profit of 3.86 trillion South Korean Won (2.8 billion USD) in the third quarter, lower than the expected 6.7 trillion South Korean Won. The department's sales amounted to 29.27 trillion South Korean Won.
In addition, the device experience (DX) department recorded an operating profit of 3.37 trillion South Korean Won, with sales of 44.99 trillion South Korean Won. Thanks to the launch of new smart phones, tablets, and wearable devices, the mobile experience (MX) department saw a year-on-year increase in both operating profit and sales.
Samsung's market cap has already shrunk by about a quarter this year, as the once dominant memory chip manufacturer struggles to get its latest chips certified by nvidia for use in ai accelerators. This rare opportunity has allowed competitors SK Hynix and Micron Technology to take an absolute lead in the profitable high bandwidth memory (HBM) sector. SK Hynix reported a record operating profit of 7.03 trillion South Korean Won last week.
Samsung mentioned in a statement that the demand related to ai and datacenter servers is strong, but mobile chip demand remains weak due to inventory adjustments by some customers. The company also faces the issue of continuously increasing supply of traditional chips. Samsung Electronics plans to invest 47.9 trillion South Korean Won in semiconductor capital expenditures this fiscal year and expand sales of high-end products like HBM3E.
Samsung, south korea's largest company, reported a net income of 9.78 trillion South Korean Won in the September quarter, exceeding the average analyst expectation of 9.14 trillion South Korean Won, as other parts of its extensive business helped offset the impact of the chip business. Sales increased by 17.35% year-on-year, reaching 79.0987 trillion South Korean Won, setting a new record for a single quarter. In the south korea stock market, Samsung's stock price fell by 1.4% in early trading on Thursday, but later recovered.
Three weeks before Samsung published its financial report, the company's chip business head Jun Young-hyun apologized for disappointing performance. The company admitted at that time that there were delays in obtaining certification for its highest-profit, most advanced HBM3E series chips. Samsung had predicted in July that they would begin mass production in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, SK Hynix confirmed last week that it plans to start supplying its 12-layer HBM3E in the fourth quarter. Apart from lagging behind SK Hynix in HBM, in terms of outsourcing production for custom chips, Samsung has made almost no progress in competing with Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US).
Samsung must now reassess its organizational culture and processes. Jun mentioned this month that this aligns with earlier comments about the need for fundamental changes in one of South Korea's oldest companies. As part of the global job cuts plan, the company has reportedly begun layoffs in Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
