SEOUL, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Samsung Electronics, South Korea's tech giant, logged a double-digit earnings growth in the second quarter due to robust sale of semiconductors, the company said Thursday.
Consolidated revenue advanced 21.3 percent from a year earlier to 77.2 trillion won (59.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the April-June quarter.
It marked the second-highest revenue in the company's history, slightly lower than a record revenue of 77.78 trillion won (59.7 billion U.S. dollars) tallied in the first quarter of this year.
Operating profit grew 12.2 percent over the year to 14.09 trillion won (10.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the second quarter. It was the third-highest profit for the second quarter.
The record earnings were attributable to strong chip demand and a favorable foreign exchange market.
The strong U.S. dollar versus the local currency benefitted Samsung's component businesses, resulting in about 1.3 trillion won (1 billion U.S. dollars) company-wide gain in operating profit compared to the prior quarter.
Samsung's chip-making business posted an operating profit of 9.98 trillion won (7.7 billion U.S. dollars) on revenue of 28.5 trillion won (21.9 billion U.S. dollars).
The semiconductor profit accounted for 71 percent of the total in the April-June quarter, while the revenue was the highest in Samsung's history.
Samsung said earnings in memory chips improved on solid demand for servers, helping to maintain average selling prices, while the system chip business achieved a record quarterly profit on an expanded product lineup.
With macroeconomic uncertainties expected to persist in the second half, the semiconductor unit planned to focus on managing a portfolio of high-value-added products, the company said.
The display panel business recorded an operating profit of 1.06 trillion won (813 million U.S. dollars) on revenue of 7.71 trillion won (5.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the second quarter.
Mobile display earnings improved on strong sale of flagship smartphones and higher adoption of OLED displays in laptops and gaming devices as well as positive foreign exchange movements.
Large displays business saw a continued loss amid the lower average selling prices for LCD panels and initial costs of quantum-dot (QD) display development, Samsung said.
In the second half, mobile panel business was expected to increase on new smartphone launches, while large display earnings were forecast to improve on higher demand for QD displays.
The mobile phone and networks division recorded an operating profit of 2.62 trillion won (2 billion U.S. dollars) on revenue of 29.34 trillion won (22.5 billion U.S. dollars).
Overall mobile phone demand weakened in the second quarter on geopolitical risks in Europe, worry about inflation and weak seasonality, but supply disruptions in the first quarter were mostly resolved, Samsung said.
For the second half, Samsung forecast that smartphone market demand would stay similar to prolonged geopolitical risks and economic uncertainties.
The visual display and digital appliances unit logged an operating profit of 360 billion won (276.1 million U.S. dollars) on revenue of 14.83 trillion won (11.4 billion U.S. dollars).
Demand for TVs contracted in the second quarter owing to weak seasonality and economic uncertainties, such as surging inflation and high-interest rates.
For the second half, Samsung expected that uncertainties would continue in the TV market on macroeconomic risks.
Meanwhile, Samsung's capital expenditure in the second quarter came in at 12.3 trillion won (9.4 billion U.S. dollars), including 10.9 trillion won (8.4 billion U.S. dollars) on semiconductors and 800 billion won (613.6 million U.S. dollars) on display panels. ■