Analysts say falling prices of DRAM and NAND
memory chips are eating into the earnings of the
company, which saw its operating profit during
the first quarter drop more than 60% from last
year. U.S. sanctions on Chinese technology giant
Huawei may have also contributed to Samsung’s
profit woes by reducing its chip shipments and
pushing down chip prices farther.
Samsung, which is the world’s biggest maker of
semiconductors and smartphones and a major
producer of display screens, is also bracing
for the impact of tightened Japanese controls
on exports of high-tech materials used in
semiconductors and displays.
The Seoul government sees the Japanese
measures, which went into effect on last Thursday,
as retaliation against South Korean court rulings
that called for Japanese companies to compensate
aging South Korean plaintiffs for forced labor
during World War II. Seoul plans to file a complaint
with the World Trade Organization.