Despite Samsung Electronics posting record-breaking sales in the first quarter of 2025, its overall operating profit fell short of SK Hynix's due to the semiconductor slump. The semiconductor division's operating profit was only one-seventh of that of SK Hynix.

Samsung Electronics announced its first quarter 2025 performance on the 30th.

According to the disclosed data, sales increased by 10.05% year-on-year to KRW 79.1405 trillion based on consolidated financial statements, and operating profit increased by 1.2% year-on-year to KRW 6.6853 trillion.

Net income increased 21.74% year-on-year to KRW 8.229 trillion.

This performance was the highest quarterly sales ever, driven by strong sales of flagship smartphones and increased sales of high value-added products.

In particular, the DX (Device eXperience) division led the performance increase, growing 28% quarter-on-quarter through expanded sales of flagship smartphones and high value-added home appliances.

On the other hand, the DS (Device Solutions) division showed somewhat sluggish performance due to factors such as a decrease in HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) sales.

The DS division recorded sales of KRW 25.1 trillion, up 9% year-on-year, and operating profit decreased 0.8% year-on-year to KRW 1.1 trillion. In particular, the memory sector increased by 9% year-on-year to KRW 19.1 trillion.

This performance is disappointing for Samsung Electronics, as SK Hynix recently announced good results.

SK Hynix recorded sales of KRW 17.6391 trillion and operating profit of KRW 7.4405 trillion in the first quarter of 2025. Looking at operating profit alone, it exceeds Samsung Electronics' entire operating profit in the first quarter, and when looking at the semiconductor sector alone, it is a performance that is 7 times higher.

Regarding this, Samsung Electronics stated that in the memory sector, the expansion of server DRAM sales and stabilization of NAND flash prices had a positive effect, but performance slowed down somewhat due to the effects of decreased HBM sales and semiconductor export controls.

System LSI had difficulty supplying flagship SoCs (System on Chips) to major customers, but achieved a slight improvement in performance by expanding the supply of high-resolution image sensors.

The foundry division's performance was sluggish due to slowing demand from major applications such as mobile devices and inventory adjustments by customers.

Meanwhile, in the DX division, strong sales of the Galaxy S25 series led to increased performance.

VD's profitability improved due to increased sales of Neo QLED and OLED TVs, and increased sales of premium products in home appliances.

Harman also maintained year-on-year growth despite the off-season by improving its product portfolio.