Samsung Electronics Co Ltd says it expects demand for memory chips to remain strong in 2018, as it reported a record annual profit that would drive a so-called memory chip “super-cyle” and announced that it would have a 50 to 1 stock split.
South Korea’s giant shares was up by more than 8 percent after it revealed the massive stock split, stating that it wanted to make the company “more accessible and provide dividend to a wider range of investors”
The upbeat outlook from the world’s biggest maker of memory chips comes as investors look for sign of an end to the massive expansion in the global semiconductor business that has driven profits at chip makers in recent years.
Samsung released a statement on Wednesday stating that “Looking at the mid-to-long term, Samsung expects the components business to see demand expand from new applications,”
Led by a strong fourth quarter, the company brought home an annual profit of 53.7 trillion that was stacked up from 2017, breaking a record of 36.8 trillion that was reached in 2013.
Earlier this month, Samsung states that is would more likely report a record quarterly profit of 15.1 trillion, but the results fell short of consensus that was estimated at the time which sent shares down as investors worry if this indicated that the memory ship boom could ending sooner rather than later.