South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics has released its preliminary earnings guidance report today... and figures show that both revenue and earnings have plunged.
Kim Hyesung reports.
Samsung Electronics says its first quarter operating profit fell 60 percent on-year...its biggest drop in operating profit in four years.
According to the company's preliminary results released Friday, operating income for the January to March period slid to five-and-a half billion U.S. dollars.
Sales fell 14 percent on-year to around 46 billion dollars.
The announcement comes after the tech giant had issued a warning last month that its earnings would be lower than market expectations citing falling chip prices and lower demand for its display panels.
Samsung saw record sales and profits last year, but falling global demand for memory chips on weakening demand from China and data center companies like Amazon and Microsoft has hurt its profits.
Data by research firm DRAMeXchange shows both DRAM and NAND flash chip prices dropped by over 20 percent in the first quarter.
For its display division, Samsung had said that LCD panel prices fell more than expected due to an expansion in capacity from Chinese makers while demand from its flexible OLED display screens, used for iPhones, also declined.
Full earnings data for each of its divisions is due to be released later this month.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.