Seoul:Samsung Electronics on Wednesday reported an annual 34% decline in operating profit for the last quarter as sluggish demands for its TVs and other consumer electronics products offset hard-won gains from a slowly recovering computer chip market.
The South Korean technology giant said it expects its business to improve throughout 2024, forecasting larger demands for semiconductors that power artificial intelligence features increasingly used in smartphones, personal computers and other products. However, macroeconomic uncertainties could continue to affect its business in the near-term.
Samsung's operating profit was measured at 2.8 trillion won ($2.1 billion) for the three months through December, compared to 4.3 trillion ($3.2 billion) from the same period last year. Its operating profit for the full year 2023 was at 6.5 trillion won ($4.8 billion), which marked an 85% decline from 2022 and represented the company's lowest since 2008, when global markets were weathering a financial crisis.