David RichardsSamsung, who two days ago were spruiking their new Smart TVs in Australia, have now issued a warning that sales of their new models may be impacted by a weak market and a lessening of demand for flat panel TVs.
The company said that weak sales of televisions and flat panels means that their operating profit will reach a two-year low.
Samsung said that their operating profit for the first three months of 2010 is $2.6bn, compared with $2.1bn a year earlier.
The Korean company is pinning a lot on their memory chip business which they claim will help offset that decline in the second quarter.
Prices of memory chips – vital components in personal computers and mobile electronic devices – have been steadily increasing since the devastating earthquake and tsunami which struck Japan on March 11 and disrupted supply chains.
Market researcher iSuppli forecast this week that global semiconductor sales would increase more than previously estimated as disruptions caused by Japan’s quake lead to supply shortages and higher prices of computer memory chips. It forecast sales to rise 7 per cent to $325.2bn this year.
Samsung’s share of the dynamic random access memory chips market has grown to 42 per cent at the end of 2010, from 32 per cent one year earlier.
Analysts forecast Samsung, which is also the world’s second-biggest maker of mobile phones by volume, will further expand its share through capital spending and advanced technology, forcing some of its smaller rivals out of the market.