Diverse Product Lineup, Advanced Manufacturing Technology Enable Samsung To Maintain Market Leadership

摘要

Emerging relatively strong from the recent global hi-tech slowdown that consequently squeezed corporate IT spending, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. reported a strong operating profit of 560 billion won on 3.2 trillion won first quarter sales of memory chip, system LSI and TFT-LCDs. The first quarter operating profit and sales performances were down 38 percent and 13 percent, respectively, compared with fourth quarter 2002 performances. Still, the numbers were encouraging, given that January to March is a typically slow period in terms of sales for the semiconductor chip industry. "As usual, the first quarter generally ended up disappointing many chipmakers that had been yearning for recovery, as volume-based shipments were slowing down, even if growth was more than 40 percent," says Joo, Woo-Sik, Samsung Executive Director.