Samsung Q4 profit misses expectations amid Nvidia chip supply delays

Samsung Electronics (KS:005930 ) flagged a weaker-than-expected operating profit for the fourth quarter on Wednesday, as the South Korean tech giant largely lagged its rivals in supplying memory chips to the artificial intelligence industry.

Samsung’s operating profit for the three months to December 31 was likely 6.50 trillion won ($4.5 billion), less than Bloomberg estimates of 8.96 trillion won, the company said in a preliminary earnings statement. Profit still rose from a lower base of 2.8 trillion won seen in the last quarter of 2023. 

Samsung- which is the world’s biggest memory chip maker by capacity- is grappling with a string of delays in developing high-bandwith memory chips to supply to the AI industry.

The company has offered scant details on its plans to supply AI major NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA ) with HBM chips, largely lagging rivals such as SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660 ) and Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU ) in capitalizing on the AI boom.

Samsung has also lagged SK Hynix in mass producing advanced HBM chips, which will be used in Nvidia's next generation of AI silicon.

Recent reports suggested that Samsung was struggling to meet Nvidia’s production standards for HBM chips, which are a key component of the latter’s advanced AI chips.

Samsung’s third-quarter earnings had also disappointed markets, which saw the company issue a rare apology and also enact a major management reshuffle at its chip unit. 

The world’s biggest memory chip maker was already struggling with slowing demand for consumer electronics, which had weighed on its overall sales in the past two years. 

Source: Investing.com