Samsung posts third-biggest quarterly profit in Q4 on chip sales

SEOUL - Samsung Electronics posted the third-biggest operating profit in the company's history thanks to brisk sales in semiconductors, a regulatory filing showed on Tuesday.

Consolidated operating profit reached 9.22 trillion won ($7.92 billion) in the October-December quarter, up 3.08 percent from a year earlier.

It marked Samsung's third-biggest profit, following 10.16 trillion won tallied in the third quarter of 2013 and 9.53 trillion won in the second quarter of 2013.

Revenue inched up 0.03 percent over the year to 53.33 trillion won in the fourth quarter.

The semiconductor business posted 4.95 trillion won in operating profit for the December quarter, accounting for over half of Samsung's total profit. It surpassed the division's previous record high of 3.66 trillion won in the third quarter of 2015.

Demand for chips used in mobile phones increased amid higher semiconductor prices, a competitive edge in 18-nano DRAM chips and the V-NAND flash mass-production.

The mobile unit's operating profit was 2.5 trillion won due to the discontinuation of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.

Samsung said Monday that faulty battery caused the Note 7s to catch fire or even explode. The flagship Samsung phablet, which was launched in August, was discontinued in October as reports continued on the phones setting on fire or overheating while charging.

The one of the biggest debacles in tech history was estimated to have cost Samsung almost $6 billion, but the company has endured the loss thanks to strong demand for its semiconductors and display panels. The display panel unit logged 1.34 trillion won in operating profit, with the profit in the consumer electronics unit reaching 320 billion won in the fourth quarter.