Samsung SDI said on the 28th that in the first quarter of this year it posted sales of 357.64 billion won and an operating loss of 155.6 billion won. Compared with the same period a year earlier, sales rose 12.6% and the operating loss narrowed 64.2%. Net income was 56.1 billion won, turning to a profit.
By sector, the battery business recorded sales of 335.44 billion won and an operating loss of 176.6 billion won. Thanks to expanded local production and sales in the United States of ESS batteries, benefits from the Advanced Manufacturing Production tax credit (AMPC) increased, and profitability improved significantly on strong sales of high-value cylindrical batteries.
The electronic materials business posted sales of 22.2 billion won and operating profit of 21 billion won. While semiconductor material sales maintained a solid trend, sales of display materials rebounded on increased sales of flagship smartphones by major mobile customers, improving results from a year earlier.
Samsung SDI expects the improvement in results to continue after the second quarter. For electric-vehicle batteries, it expects demand to recover on expanded subsidies in major European countries and rising total cost of ownership (TCO) for internal combustion engine vehicles.
For the ESS battery sector, the company plans to expand local mass production and sales to meet rising demand from the expansion of AI data centers in the United States, and to actively participate in Korea's ESS central contract market and next-generation grid-connected ESS projects to continuously grow related businesses.
A company official said, "Uncertainty in the global business environment is expected to continue in the second quarter," but added, "We will execute our strategies by business sector without a hitch and work to achieve a quarterly profit in the second half."