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A Samsung flag flies outside of Samsung Electronics’ offices in Seoul’s Seocho District (Yonhap News)

Samsung Electronics overtook Intel to reclaim the No. 1 spot in global chip sales last year, with over 94 trillion won in sales in its semiconductor division.

Samsung Electronics released consolidated statements of its 2021 business performance Thursday, showing 279.6 trillion won in full-year revenue and 51.63 trillion won in operating profits last year — approximately US$232 billion and US$42.8 billion, respectively. Its revenue and profits were up 18.07% and 43.45%, respectively, from the previous year.

Samsung Electronics’ annual revenue last year was its highest ever — about 14% higher than its previous record of 243.77 trillion won in 2018. Its operating profits were also the third highest on record, only falling below 2017 (53.65 trillion won) and 2018 (58.89 trillion won), during a semiconductor super cycle.

Once again, it was semiconductors that propelled Samsung to record-setting sales. Its semiconductor division reported 94.16 trillion won in sales and 29.2 trillion won in operating profits last year.

Intel, which also released annual performance figures Thursday, had US$79 billion in sales. Converted to Korean won using last year’s average won-dollar exchange (1,144.6 won), that amounts to 90.42 trillion won — about 3.7 trillion won less than Samsung’s sales.

Samsung Electronics beat out Intel to rank first in global semiconductor sales for the first time in 2017. But Samsung lost the No. 1 spot to the American chipmaker the next year and remained No. 2 from 2018 to 2020.

Samsung Electronics posted fourth-quarter sales of 26.1 trillion won and operating profits of 8.84 trillion won. While server demand remained robust, the average selling price of memory semiconductors edged down in Q4, causing Samsung’s quarterly performance to decline from the previous quarter (sales of 26.41 trillion won, operating profits of 10.6 trillion won).

Samsung’s IT and mobile division — which includes its smartphone and network operations — posted sales of 109.25 trillion won and operating profits of 13.65 trillion won last year. Booming sales of premium products such as the Galaxy Z Flip 3, which launched in August last year, have pushed the division’s sales and operating profits to their highest level since 2014.

There had been concerns that Samsung’s IT and mobile division might be facing a crisis after its 2020 revenue dipped below 100 trillion won for the first time.

In a briefing Thursday when it announced its fourth-quarter earnings, Samsung said it had moved 72 million mobile phones and 7 million tablets during the final quarter.

Last year, Samsung’s consumer electronics division reported revenue of 55.83 trillion won and operating profits of 3.65 trillion won last year — 15.35 trillion won and 700 billion won, respectively, in the fourth quarter.

While brisk sales of premium products in the peak holiday season helped the division set a record for quarterly sales, rising logistics costs dragged earnings down somewhat from the previous quarter (760 billion won), the company explained.

Samsung Electronics spent around 48.2 trillion won on facility investment last year, about 25% more than the previous year. Of that, 43.6 trillion won went to the semiconductor sector as Samsung updated existing assembly lines and built new ones at plants in Pyeongtaek, in Korea’s Gyeonggi Province, and in Xi’an, China, and built a cutting-edge 5-nanometer extreme ultraviolet assembly line at its Pyeongtaek foundry.

By Sun Dam-eun, staff reporter

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