Samsung's growth over the past decade, backed by the stellar performance of its chip division, has been nothing short of remarkable. The company made money hand over fist due to its dominance in the memory chip market, so much so that just over 14 years ago, the operating profit of nine biggest Japanese electronics companies wasn't even half of what Samsung Electronics was making alone.
The situation has improved in favor of the Japanese recently as Samsung's been having a tough time of it, particularly due to the supply glut and falling average sales price in the memory market. That has given Sony the opening to beat Samsung's operating profit for the first time in over two decades.
Sony has made more profit than Samsung for the first time since 1999
Samsung provided its earnings guidance for Q4 2023 today, highlighting a 34.4% decline in profit. It's expected that Samsung's operating profit for the year will be 7.49 trillion won or $5.62 billion compared to Sony's operating profit estimate of 1.17 trillion yen or $7.95 billion. Going by these estimates, Sony has made over $2 billion more than Samsung Electronics in 2023.
This is the first time since 1999 that Samsung Electronics' operating profit has fallen behind Sony, a company that it quite literally chased out of the smartphone market. It's largely been caused by the slump in the semiconductor market as the situation still hasn't recovered enough for Samsung to post record profits again.
Experts also point out that Sony's increased focus on globalization, digital transformation, restructuring, and an aggressive approach to mergers and acquisitions has also contributed to its strong performance. While Samsung expects the semiconductor market to recover in 2024, it could take some time before the company can beat Sony on profit once again.
