More than 15fold rise in Q2 earnings
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SEOUL, July 31 Reuters Samsung Electronics forecasted strong artificial intelligencedriven demand for chips in the second half of this year, as it reported a more than 15fold rise in its secondquarter operating profit.

Rebounding semiconductor prices stoked by the AI boom lifted June quarter earnings for the world39;s biggest maker of memory chips, smartphones and TVs from a low base a year ago.

In the second half of 2024, AI servers are expected to take up a larger portion of the memory market as major cloud service providers and enterprises expand their AI investments, Samsung said.

Samsung39;s share price rose 0.7 in morning trade versus a 0.3 rise in the benchmark index.

Operating profit rose to 10.4 trillion won 7.52 billion in AprilJune, up from 670 billion won a year earlier, Samsung said.

It was Samsung39;s highest operating profit since the third quarter of 2022, spurred by the chip division returning to form as the tech giant39;s cash cow after a slump caused by weak postpandemic demand for gadgets that use the chips.

Secondquarter revenue rose 23 to 74 trillion won.

CHIPS BOOM

The chip division reported a 6.45 trillion won profit, its highest since the second quarter of 2022, and its second consecutive quarterly profit.

Explosive demand for…