Asian Tech Press (Jan 5) -- South Korea's Samsung Electronics is likely to report record Q4 profit due to solid demand for server memory chips and higher profits from the contract manufacturing, according to analysts' estimates.

As reported by Reuters, operating profit for the quarter ending in December could reach 15.2 trillion won ($12.7 billion), based on a Refinitiv SmartEstimate from 14 analysts. That would be up 68% from 9.05 trillion won a year ago and narrowly beat the previous Q4 profit record of 15.15 trillion won reported in 2017.

Jeff Kim, an analyst at KB Securities, stated, "Contrary to previous concerns, the semiconductor industry is likely to see demand increase significantly from customers in both memory and non-memory sectors."

Analysts avers that Samsung's chip contract manufacturing business, which is in competition with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), has also improved its profitability significantly from the previous quarter, to an operating margin of 10 to 20%, thanks to more deliveries and higher prices.