Samsung has reported a 50% fall in operating profits in the third quarter compared with a year ago.
Sales revenues for the Korean giant were 15% ahead for the quarter.
Semiconductor sales were 5% down which was largely due to a 15% fall in memory sales, other chip sales were 33% up during the quarter. As a result operating profit from the chip business slumped by 74%.
LCD sales were 20% ahead and handset sales 27% up on Q3 a year ago. But profit was also down here.
Although the company claimed it is “the only memory company to remain profitable despite worsening market conditions”.
Samsung expects DRAM supply growth to continue amid weakening demand due to slow PC demand growth which is 6% quarter-on-quarter. "Capacity cutback by some companies likely to limit supply growth, but market recovery unlikely," said Samsung.
However, it does expect increased demand for NAND flash memory chips due to Christmas consumer product launches - MP3, handsets and SSD.
LCD sales were driven by TVs where shipments increased mainly due to steady panel demand from major customers and Samsung said it achieved over 5 million unit sales in the quarter.
See also: Electronics Weekly's Focus on Samsung Electronics, a roundup of content on three main areas of the technology giant's development: memory chips, LCD displays and mobile phone technology.