(4th LD) Samsung’s Q3 profit misses expectations on lackluster performance in AI chips

Samsung Electronics Co. on Tuesday estimated its third-quarter operating profit nearly tripled, but missed market expectations due to the lukewarm performance of its high-end memory chips used in artificial intelligence computing. The world's biggest maker of memory chips expected an operating profit of 9.1 trillion won (US$6.8 billion) for the third quarter, up 274.5 percent from a year earlier, Samsung Electronics said in a regulatory filing. But operating profit retreated 12.8 percent from three months earlier. Revenue increased 17.2 percent to a record 79 trillion won for the July-September period. The company did not disclose the data for net earnings in the guidance. The operating profit was 11.7 percent lower than the average estimate, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. Experts forecast that Samsung Electronics' lower-than-expected earnings report is attributable to sluggish shipment of memory chips due to contracting sales of smartphones and p ersonal computers. The company's slower performance in high-bandwidth memory business also weighed heavily on the third-quarter report. Source: Yonhap News Agency