Samsung flags eight-fold jump in Q1 profit as AI chip demand drives up prices

By Hyunjoo Jin

SEOUL, April 7 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics 005930.KS on Tuesday projected a more than eight-fold jump in first-quarter operating profit from a year earlier, beating expectations as booming demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure caused supply bottlenecks and drove chip prices higher.

The world's largest memory chipmaker estimated an operating profit of 57.2 trillion won ($37.92 billion) for the January to March period, compared with an LSEG SmartEstimate of 40.6 trillion won and a profit of 6.69 trillion won a year earlier.