Samsung Electro-Mechanics saw demand for its flagship products, including multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC), surge on the back of growth in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, with operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year jumping sharply from a year earlier. Full-year revenue topped 11 trillion won, marking an all-time high.
On the 23rd, Samsung Electro-Mechanics disclosed that fourth-quarter revenue last year was 2.9021 trillion won, up 16% from the same period a year earlier, and operating profit for the period was 239.5 billion won, up 108% year over year. Full-year revenue was 11.3145 trillion won, up 10% from the previous year to set the highest annual revenue since the company's founding, while operating profit was provisionally tallied at 913.3 billion won, up 24% from a year earlier.
The component institutional sector, which handles the MLCC business, posted fourth-quarter revenue last year of 1.3203 trillion won, up 22% from a year earlier on expanded supply of AI/server and power MLCCs. However, it fell 4% from the previous quarter due to year-end inventory adjustments.
The package solution institutional sector, which runs the semiconductor package substrate business, recorded fourth-quarter revenue of 644.6 billion won, up 17% from a year earlier and 9% from the previous quarter, driven by expanded supply of high-value-added products such as FC-BGA (flip chip ball grid array) for servers and AI accelerators for global big tech and for autonomous driving systems, and BGA for mobile application processors (AP).
The optical solution institutional sector, which runs the camera module business, posted fourth-quarter revenue of 937.2 billion won, up 9% from a year earlier and 2% from the previous quarter. Samsung Electro-Mechanics said results improved with the start of supply of differentiated high-performance IT camera modules and expanded supply of automotive camera modules for global electric vehicles and other applications.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics projected that the AI/server and automotive markets will continue to grow this year as global investment in AI infrastructure expands and adoption of autonomous driving increases.
The company said, "We plan to strengthen our portfolio of high-value-added products related to AI and automotive electronics, and establish a mid- to long-term growth foundation in areas such as glass substrates and components for Humanoid Robot."