Samsung forecasts record 14.5 trillion won in Q3 profit
Samsung forecasts operating profits of 14.5 trillion won for the third quarter of this year, it says in its preliminary earning guidance, which is its highest to date.
The South Korean tech giant's new record is a rise of 178.85 percent from last year, when profits were at a three year low of 5.2 trillion won due to the Galaxy Note 7 debacle.
It is also a 3 percent rise from this year's second quarter -- its previous highest -- of 14.07 trillion won in profits.
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The record profits are likely backed by a recovered mobile division -- the well-received Galaxy Note 8 began sales last month -- and the continuing high-demand for its memory chips.
The Note 8 received 850,000 pre-orders in South Korea, the highest ever for the series.
Samsung is way ahead of rivals in technology updates in its memory business; last month it began producing 128GB eUFS for car systems.
It is the world's largest vendor of memory chips, both in DRAM and NAND. Specifically, high-capacity NANDs have enjoyed huge demand from flagship phones, servers, and new services in AI and IoT.
Its technology lead and massive production capacity has allowed it to secure both high-price and volume. Some analysts estimate a margin rate of near 50 percent, which would be unprecedented in its history.
Sales of its display business, mostly from its high-end, small-sized flexible OLED screens, which it sells to rival Apple, are also a likely contributor.
The precise contributions of each business will be announced at a later date.
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