Samsung has borne the brunt of a slowdown gripping the US$160 billion global memory industry, reflecting a wider downturn after a Covid-era boom in online activity waned. Inflation and recession fears last year triggered a rapid pullback on consumer and business spending that’s since hammered sales of electronics worldwide.
Samsung Electronics reported its worst decline in quarterly revenue since at least 2009, stoking uncertainty over when a year-long electronics and memory chip demand slump will end.
The stock slid 2% in Seoul, the most on an intraday basis in more than two months, after Samsung reported a larger-than-anticipated 22% decline in sales to 60 trillion won (US$46 billion). Operating profit plunged 96% in the three months ended June, though at 600 billion won that surpassed average estimates.
