Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest producer of memory chips and smartphones, has reported a 96% plunge in operating profit for the second quarter. The ongoing chip surplus continues to inflict significant losses on the tech giant’s core business, despite supply cuts. In a preliminary earnings statement, Samsung estimated its operating profit to have dropped to 600 billion won ($459 million) from 14.1 trillion won compared to the same period last year.

This projected profit marks the lowest for Samsung in any quarter since the first quarter of 2009. While the figure aligns closely with the estimated 555 billion won, which was based on the forecasts of more consistently accurate analysts, it still signifies a severe blow to the company. Consequently, Samsung shares fell 1.4% during early morning trading, underperforming the wider market’s 0.6% drop.

Although the chip business faced substantial losses in the first quarter, analysts anticipate a reduction in losses for the second quarter due to increased sales of DRAM chips used in PCs, mobile phones, and servers. However, the memory chip market downturn, which commenced last year, is predicted to reach its lowest point in the third quarter, with a potentially modest rebound thereafter.

Investors are now closely monitoring Samsung’s upcoming full earnings report, seeking signals for the third quarter, including the impact of production cuts, potential demand recovery, and improvements in profit mix through higher-end DRAM and high-bandwidth memory products. Despite the current challenges, Samsung is expected to maintain its investment in memory chips this year, positioning itself for increased market dominance in 2025.

Samsung Electronics announced in April that it would reduce its production levels following the revelation of its lowest profit in 14 years. This move was aimed at addressing the supply surplus in the market. Similarly, Micron, another major player in the memory chip industry, stated last week that it believes the current downturn has reached its lowest point, while Hynix executives foresee some relief in the near future, driven by a recovery in China and the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

Although there are indications that the chip oversupply situation is gradually improving, inventory levels across the industry remain historically high, and the economic outlook remains uncertain. However, investors are placing their bets on generative AI to stimulate new demand for servers that require advanced DRAM, specifically DDR5. Servers powered by AI technology typically require four to six times more DRAM capacity compared to standard servers, thus driving the need for next-generation memory solutions.

The expectation of increased demand from AI-driven applications provides a glimmer of hope for the memory chip industry. However, challenges persist as companies grapple with excess inventory and unpredictable market conditions. The sector is closely monitoring the potential recovery, particularly as AI advancements continue to fuel the need for more advanced and high-capacity memory solutions.

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Amidst the global chip shortage, leading chipmaker Samsung has announced a new chip packaging technology. Potentially, the new technology could yield more efficient and faster chips using an innovative chip-packing technique. Samsung continues to maintain its leading position globally in the semiconductor space, and the improved technology will help it sustain its leadership of the segment.

The new technology is called I-Cube4 and is an improved hybrid of Samsung’s homegrown I-Cube2 and X-Cube technologies. The I-Cube4 technology was developed in March 2021. It is a 2.5D heterogeneous chip packaging innovation that can be used to place horizontally, multiple dies like the CPU, GPU, and NPU atop a silicon interposer. The arrangement forms a system in which each die will work as a single chip. The fast-evolving technology has been used successfully to combine one logic die, and four High Bandwidth Memory dies on a single chip.

The emerging possibilities for the high-performance chips that could be produced with this technology are numerous. It can be deployed to 5G, cloud, AI, and several applications that require super-fast semiconductors. It will enable faster communication between components of a chip. For example, memory and logic tasks would be accomplished better than the prevalent chip technology.

Samsung is also pursuing other more robust chipmaking technologies as demand for super-efficient chips continues to rise across the industry. According to Moonsoo Kang, a senior executive at Samsung Electronics, the explosion of high-performance applications has led Samsung to provide what he calls a total foundry solution to improve overall performance and efficiency of chips. Samsung is committed to scaling up its production capacity of these super-packaged chips to meet demand expectations.

Although the emerging technology would have certain aspects that would still need improvement, Samsung Foundry believes the materials are durable. There is the potential possibility that the silicon interposer could bend or warp under intense conditions. There are also improvements in the product quality control process to enhance the identification of defective products during the production process.

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