third-quarter

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Tuesday it will pay dividends of about 29 trillion won in the 2018-2020 period as it reported record operating profit for the three months through September, lifted by its largest-ever memory chip earnings. The world’s biggest maker of memory chips, smartphones and television sets said the memory chip “supercycle” of tight supply and strong demand was set to continue as servers and mobile devices require ever greater processing capacity. “For 2018, the company expects earnings to grow primarily from the component businesses, as conditions in the memory market are likely to remain favorable and the company expects increased sales of flexible OLED panels,” the South Korean tech giant said in a statement. Samsung is on track for record full-year profit, with analysts forecasting even better fourth-quarter on strong memory chip prices and organic light-emitting diode screen sales for Apple Inc.’s iPhone X. Operating profit nearly tripled in the third quarter from the same period a year earlier, to 14.5 trillion won ($12.91 billion), Samsung said in a regulatory filing, matching its earlier estimate. Revenue jumped 29.8% to 62 trillion won, also in line with its earlier estimate. The chip business was Samsung’s top earner as it booked a record 10 trillion-won operating profit, from 3.4 trillion won from the previous corresponding period. Client demand for more powerful devices and supply constraints pushed up prices of both DRAM and NAND memory chips, widening profit margins. More than 4 million Galaxy Note 8 smartphones have been sold since the premium model was launched in mid-September, making up for slowing sales of the Galaxy S8 launched earlier in 2017, analysts said.

third-quarter

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS THIRD-QUARTER PROFIT NEARLY TRIPLES TO NEW RECORD

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