Samsung Electronics warned that American duties would harm the demand for its products. The world's largest memory and smartphones producer presented a pessimistic forecast for the rest of the year.
The Korean company announced that “growing political risks” increase the uncertainty in its activities related to semiconductors, and Customs will raise the prices of components to smartphones and expose the pressure on the decline in the sale of mobile devices.
Quoted by the “Financial Times” financial director Park Soon-Cheol stated:
“The persistent uncertainty related to the American customs policy is still a potential risk of a decrease in demand. We believe that changes in the customs policy of the main economies and tightening of export controls towards [sztucznej inteligencji] They are already increasing uncertainty about the forecast demand in the second half of the year. “
Customers blow on cold and place orders in advance
According to Samsung, Donald Trump's decision to suspend the introduction of mutual duties prompted some customers to place orders earlier. The company, however, warned that such “Acceleration of orders” may have a “negative impact” on the demand later.
The warning appeared when the Samsung chip department noted a decrease in operational profits by about 40 percent in the first quarter. The sale of high bandwidth memory chips (HBM), used in AI equipment equipment, suffered by tightened American export restrictions against China.
Analysts estimate that about a third of the sale of Samsung HBM chips fall on China. The negative impact of export restrictions prevailed over the increase in orders from Chinese customers who stored chips in the face of upcoming American duties.
Most semiconductors have so far been excluded from Trump's mutual duties, but the president announced that he would soon impose customs fees to them. The US is also exacerbated by restrictions on chip producers who trade them with China, especially after the debut of Chinese Deepseek.
On April 30, Samsung's shares fell by 0.4 percent, just like the entire KOSPI index. Since the beginning of the year, the course has already fallen by over 28 percent, because the company failed to use the boom around AI.
Samsung accelerates investments so as not to be behind SK Hynix
The chip manufacturer tries to catch up with a competitor – SK Hynix – whose shares increased this year by 2 %, thanks to better results in a profitable HBM segment. Advanced HBM Samsung chips have still not undergone qualifying tests at Nvidia – one of the key clients of both companies.
Samsung has allocated 9 trillion won ($ 6.3 billion) in the first quarter for research and development – by 16 percent. more than a year earlier – In the face of growing fears about the loss of technological advantage. The company plans to increase the production of its advanced, 12-layer HBM3E chips in the current quarter, expecting high demand for AI servers.
Cited by the “Financial Times” Albert Yong, managing partner at Petra Capital Management, Hedge Fund from Seoul, said:
“The economic cycle for memory seems to reach the bottom, but the company's shares are burdened with growing uncertainties related to customs and regulations. Without the sale of HBM chips to Nvidia, it is difficult to expect a significant improvement in Samsung's results.”
The US has suspended mutual duties on several dozen countries, including South Korea and Vietnam, until July, but there is still a minimum customs rate of 10 %, which will most likely increase the prices of many Samsung electronic devices, such as smartphones and TVs.
Samsung produces almost half of its smartphones in Vietnam, and most TVs sold in North America are being built in Mexico. The company announced that it would prepare actions to alleviate the effects of US customs, including the transfer of television and other home appliances.
Galaxy S25 drives Samsung's results. Sale of smartphones is growing two -digit
Samsung Mobile Experience and Networks departments, responsible for the development and sale of smartphones, tablets, Wearable devices and other equipment, have recorded an increase in sales and profits in both annual and quarterly terms.
Sales increased by 10% year -on -year and 43% compared to the previous quarter.
The company assigns this increase in the premiere of the latest series of smartphones Galaxy S25, which contains Improved AI functions compared to previous models. Samsung added that in this segment it was also possible to reduce costs.
In the current quarter, the company plans to maintain sales thanks to the introduction of a new Galaxy S25 Edge smartphone and announced further development of functions based on artificial intelligence in its offer of smartphones.
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