Samsung reports record profit, hikes capex by $766M

The Korean firm had sales of $7.6 billion (9.93 trillion won) for the quarter, a 17% increase from the previous period.

Samsung officials attributed the strong showing to rising DRAM prices during the quarter, high growth rates for NAND flash memory, the supply shortage of active matrix LCD panels, and a stable system-on-chip business.

In a breakdown, the semiconductor unit (device solutions network group) had $2.28 billion in sales and $760 million in operating profit; telecommunication networks had $2.25 billion in sales and $610 million in operating income; digital media $2 billion sales and $150 million operating income; and digital appliance network $700 million sales and $85 million operating income.

Samsung said its debt-to-equity ratio had been reduced to 36%. The firm announced a $766 million increase in 2002 capital spending plans for semiconductor and LCD fabs for a new $2.6 billion total.