Samsung Electronics closes the third quarter with stellar profits driven by the chip sector, which more than offset the slowdown in smartphone sales. In the July-September period, the South Korean electronics giant posted record operating profit of $15,4 billion, up 21% from a year ago.
Net income rose 17,5% to $11,5 billion, while revenues increased 5,5% to $57,4 billion. The semiconductor business reported operating income of nearly $12 billion, marking the second record in two consecutive quarters. The mobile phone unit, which once commanded the lion's share of the company's overall sales and profits, instead reported an operating profit of "only" $1,9 billion.
Samsung also announced plans to invest $27,9 billion in manufacturing plants this year, primarily to build and expand those that deal with chips. Samsung's chip manufacturing unit, which currently dominates the global market after the company invests tens of billions of dollars each year to build and expand factories, supplies chips for its own devices as well as its competitors among which Apple.
As for the telephone sector, profit margins have shrunk as competition from Apple in the high-end has added that of Chinese companies in the medium-low segments.
