Samsung Electronics on Thursday posted the second biggest operating profit in the first quarter of this year thanks to robust demand for semiconductors.
Operating profit was 9.9 trillion won (8.77 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-March quarter, up 48.27 percent from a year earlier. From the previous quarter, the profit increased 7.35 percent.
The figure was the largest except Samsung's record high of 10.16 trillion won in operating profit, which was tallied in the third quarter of 2013.
Revenue added 1.54 percent from a year earlier to 50.55 trillion won in the March quarter, but net income surged 46.29 percent to 7.68 trillion won.
The majority of Samsung's first-quarter earnings was generated in the chip-making unit, which posted 6.31 trillion won of operating profit on revenue of 15.66 trillion won.
The semiconductor division's profit was the biggest-ever in Samsung's history, topping the previous record high of 4.95 trillion won tallied in the previous quarter.
The chip division's revenue was up 40 percent compared with a year earlier. The unit's operating margin was 40.3 percent, more than doubling 19.6 percent for Samsung's overall margin. (1 South Korean won = 0.00088 U.S. dollar)
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