SEOUL— Samsung Electronics Co. offset relative weakness in smartphone shipments by capitalizing on another quarter of roaring demand for its memory chips.
Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone and memory-chip maker, is considered an industry bellwether because it is both a major electronics maker and components supplier to the world’s biggest tech firms, including Apple Inc. and Sony Group Corp.
The South Korea-based company posted second-quarter net profit of 9.63 trillion won, or the equivalent of $8.37 billion. That represented a 73% increase from 5.56 trillion won a year earlier.
Revenue increased 20% to 63.67 trillion won. The performance topped analysts’ estimates and underscored the global appetite for digital goods and services that this week also helped lift earnings at Microsoft Corp. , Apple and mobile-phone chip company Qualcomm Inc.
Strength at Samsung’s memory business propelled its second-quarter results. Pandemic shifts have kept demand high for personal computers, data servers and mobile devices, which all require memory chips. As a result, memory-chip makers recorded growth in shipments and enjoyed greater pricing power.
