Seoul: Samsung Electronics Co. announced Thursday that its first-quarter net profit surged more than fivefold compared to the previous year, fueled by strong demand for high-end memory chips utilized in artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Samsung's net profit for the three months ending in March soared to 47.22 trillion won (US$31.8 billion), a significant increase from 8.22 trillion won in the same period last year. Operating profit experienced an even more dramatic rise, increasing over eightfold to 57.23 trillion won from 6.68 trillion won, while sales saw a 69.2 percent rise to 133.87 trillion won from 79.14 trillion won.

The company attributed the record quarterly operating profit and sales to the strong sales of high-margin AI chips and the rising memory prices in its device solutions division. Additionally, a weaker won against the U.S. dollar contributed an extra 1.8 trillion won to the operating profit.

Samsung anticipates continued solid performance in the second quarter, expecting that sustained heavy investment in AI infrastructure by global technology firms will bolster memory chip prices. Major tech companies, including Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., have been increasing their spending on data centers and related hardware, thus driving demand for AI chips.

To accommodate the rising demand, Samsung Electronics plans to increase its supply of sixth-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM4) within the year. The company's earnings have surpassed market expectations, with the average analyst estimate for net profit at 39.12 trillion won, as per Yonhap Infomax, the financial data arm of Yonhap News Agency.

As of 9:35 a.m., Samsung Electronics shares were trading 1.22 percent higher at 229,000 won, outperforming the broader Korea Composite Stock Price Index's (KOSPI) 0.48 percent gain.