Strong sales of smartphones and chips led to a 10% revenue growth for Samsung in the first quarter, reaching a record high, significantly exceeding expectations

Benefiting from the demand for AI driving a rebound in chip business, Samsung's first-quarter performance exceeded expectations, with revenue reaching a historical high, a year-on-year increase of 10%, and operating profit also surpassing market expectations.

On Tuesday, the "chip giant" Samsung Electronics released its financial report for the first quarter of 2025, with the following key points:

Revenue Growth: Revenue for the first quarter of 2025 reached 79.1 trillion won, a year-on-year increase of 10% and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 4%.

Profitability: Operating profit was 6.7 trillion won, a slight increase of 0.1 trillion won year-on-year, and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.2 trillion won, exceeding the general expectation of analysts at 6.4 trillion won.

Core Business Performance: DX (Device eXperience) revenue was 51.7 trillion won, a year-on-year increase of 9% and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 28%. DS (Device Solutions): Revenue was 25.1 trillion won, a year-on-year decrease of 9% and a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 17%, facing challenges in the memory chip business.

Regarding the impact of tariffs, Samsung stated that due to rapid changes in national policies and geopolitical tensions, it is difficult to accurately predict the impact of tariffs on business and formulate countermeasures. "Assuming uncertainty decreases," it is expected that performance will improve in the second half of the year.

Chip Revenue Grows Year-on-Year, Awaiting Further Recovery

Samsung Electronics' chip business operating profit for the first quarter was 1.1 trillion won, a decline compared to the previous quarter and the same period last year, but revenue increased year-on-year.

Samsung stated in its financial report that for the memory business, revenue was driven by the growth in server DRAM sales and meeting additional NAND demand in a market where prices have bottomed out. However, Samsung indicated that the overall profitability of its chip business was affected by a decline in average selling prices, while sales were impacted by U.S. export controls on AI chips.

In terms of high-bandwidth memory, SK Hynix's rise in the DRAM market benefited from its dominant position in the HBM sector. Due to strong demand for high-bandwidth memory products, SK Hynix's quarterly revenue and operating profit exceeded expectations last week.

Samsung noted that demand for HBM has also been delayed as customers anticipate the launch of its latest HBM products. For the second quarter, Samsung expects strong demand for AI servers to continue and will seek to strengthen its position in high-value-added products, including HBM.

Samsung's Executive Vice President of Memory Business, Jaejune Kim, also pointed out during the earnings call that Samsung took proactive procurement actions in the second quarter before the implementation of reciprocal tariffs by Trump.

Mobile Business Benefits from AI

Samsung's Mobile Experience (MX) and Network Business Division reported an increase in sales and profits compared to the same period last year and the previous quarter, with sales up 10% year-on-year and 43% quarter-on-quarter.

The company attributes this growth to its newly launched Galaxy S25 smartphone series, which enhances AI capabilities based on previous models. Samsung also added that it has achieved cost reductions in this area.

In this quarter, the company plans to maintain sales by launching the new Galaxy S25 Edge smartphone and stated that it will continue to expand the AI features offered in its smartphone lineup