15/10/2025

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | OCT 15, 2025

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Samsung set to post best quarterly profit since 2022 SEOUL: Samsung Electronics yesterday said it expects its biggest quarterly profit in over three years, as the global race to boost production of AI chips has tightened supply and driven up prices of conventional memory chips, the tech giant’s mainstay. Strong demand for conventional memory chips used in data centre servers helped offset weaker sales of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips of Samsung, which has been lagging rivals in the race to supply to Nvidia, analysts said. The world’s leading memory chipmaker estimated an operating profit of 12.1 trillion won (RM36 billion) for the July-September period, up 32% from a year earlier and well above a 10.1 trillion won LSEG SmartEstimate. That would mark its best quarterly profit in 13 quarters. Samsung shares slipped 0.5% as of 0302 GMT after rising as much as 2.9% earlier to their highest level since January 2021. Analysts attributed the decline to profit-taking following the rally. The stock has risen about 75% this year. “The third-quarter earnings surprise came from the chip business,“ said Ryu Young-ho, a senior analyst at NH Investment & Securities. Strong demand for conventional memory to support general-purpose servers, combined with robust HBM demand for AI servers, have together fuelled overall memory demand, he said. Although progress in supplying advanced high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips to major clients such as Nvidia was slower than expected, gains in commodity memory, supported by tight supplies, helped cushion the impact, analysts said. “Samsung is a big beneficiary of growing demand for commodity chips,“ said Sohn In-joon, an analyst at Heungkuk Securities. Sohn attributed the earnings beat to stronger-than-expected prices of commodity DRAM and NAND chips, stemming from demand for data centre servers, and lower chip inventory by chipmakers that gave them bargaining power in pricing. Analysts said Samsung also benefited from narrower losses at its foundry unit, which makes logic chips, as utilisation rates helped ease fixed-cost pressures. The company said revenue would likely rise 8.7% to a record high of 86 trillion won from a year earlier, also helped by the weaker South Korean currency. Expanding on its stock incentives for senior executives, the company has decided to launch a performance-linked stock com pensation plan for all employees in South Korea over the next three years, according to an internal memo dated Oct 14, seen by Reuters. Samsung declined to comment on the plan. Analysts said memory makers’ focus on investing in advanced chips in recent years may have limited the production of conventional chips, which extended a supply shortage and spurred price increases for conventional chips. Prices of some DRAM chips, widely used in servers, smartphones and PCs, jumped 171.8% in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to TrendForce data. Analysts expect the commodity memory supply shortage to continue into 2026, with big tech companies expanding their spending on AI-related investments, including data centres and servers capable of handling the growing workloads from AI services. – Reuters

Container traffic between the US and China faces fresh disruption as both nations impose new shipping charges. – AFPPIX

US, China roll out tit-for-tat port fees, raising tensions

But ship-tracking company Vortexa identified 45 LPG-carrying VLGCs – 11% of the total fleet – that would still be subject to China’s port fee, its Americas analyst Samantha Hartke said. Clarksons Research said in a report that the new port fees could affect oil-tankers accounting for 15% of global capacity. Jefferies analyst Omar Nokta estimated that 13% of crude tankers and 11% of container ships in the global fleet would be affected. In a reprisal against China curbing exports of critical minerals, Trump on Friday threatened to slap additional 100% tariffs on goods from China and put new export controls on “any and all critical software” by Nov 1. Administration officials hours later warned that countries voting in favour of a plan by the United Nations’ International Maritime Organisation to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from ocean shipping this week could face sanctions, port bans, or punitive vessel charges. China has publicly supported the IMO plan. “The weaponisation of both trade and environmental policy signals that shipping has moved from being a neutral conduit of global commerce to a direct instrument of statecraft,” Xclusiv said. Shares in Shanghai-listed Cosco rose more than 2% in early trading yesterday. The company said its board had approved a plan to buy back up to 1.5 billion yuan (RM888 million) worth of its shares within the next three months to maintain corporate value and safeguard shareholder interest. The shipping firm did not immediately respond to Reuters’ queries about the port fees.

o Analysts warn new shipping charges could distort global freight flows and lock both economies into a costly standoff

BEIJING: The US and China yesterday began charging additional port fees on ocean shipping firms that move everything from holiday toys to crude oil, making the high seas a key front in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. China said it had started to collect the special charges on US-owned, operated, built, or flagged vessels but clarified that Chinese-built ships would be exempted from the levies. In details published by state broadcaster CCTV, China spelled out specific provisions on exemptions, which also include empty ships entering Chinese shipyards for repair. The China-imposed extra port fees would be collected at the first port of entry on a single voyage or for the first five voyages within a year, following an annual billing cycle beginning on April 17. Early this year, US President Donald Trump’s administration announced plans to levy the fees on China-linked ships to loosen the country’s grip on the global maritime industry and bolster US shipbuilding. An investigation during former president Joe Biden’s administration concluded China uses unfair policies and practices to dominate the global maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors, clearing the way for those penalties. China hit back last week, saying it would impose its own port fees on US-linked vessels from the same day the US fees took effect. Analysts expect

China-owned container carrier Cosco to be most affected, shouldering nearly half of that segment’s expected US$3.2 billion (RM14 billion) cost from those fees in 2026. In a related move, Beijing also imposed sanctions yesterday against five US-linked subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean which it said had “assisted and supported” a US probe into Chinese trade practices. China also launched an investigation into how the US probe affected its shipping and shipbuilding industries. “This tit-for-tat symmetry locks both economies into a spiral of maritime taxation that risks distorting global freight flows,” Athens based Xclusiv Shipbrokers Inc said in a research note. A Shanghai-based consultant who advises global companies on trade with China said the new fees may not be very disruptive to the industry and any rising costs probably would be captured in higher prices. “What are we going to do? Stop shipping? Trade is already pretty disrupted with the US, but companies are finding a way,” the consultant said, asking to remain anonymous as he was not authorised to speak with the media. The US announced last Friday a carve-out for long-term charterers of China-operated vessels carrying US ethane and LPG, deferring the port fees for them through Dec 10.

S’pore keeps monetary policy unchanged as growth remains firm SINGAPORE: Singapore’s central bank kept its monetary policy settings unchanged yesterday, as expected, as growth in the city-state remained resilient despite challenges from US tariffs. will remain positive in 2025 and come in around 0% next year,“ the central bank said in a statement. January. The decision came as preliminary government data yesterday showed the economy doing better than expected, growing 2.9% in the third quarter from a year earlier and better than expectations of 1.9%.

OCBC economist Selena Ling said the headwinds from US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs were not as bad as previously feared. “Tariff concerns, while lingering, have subsided slightly since April’s ‘liberation day’,“ Ling said. “Front loading has gone on longer, tariffs have come down from April levels, the US economy has been a bit more resilient despite the slowdown.” At its last review in July, the MAS held policy steady, after easing its reviews in April and

Ten of 14 analysts polled by Reuters ahead of the review expected the MAS to keep policy settings unchanged, while the other four expected an easing. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it will maintain the prevailing rate of appreciation of its exchange rate-based policy band. There would be no change to the width of the band or the level at which it is centred. “Singapore’s economic growth has turned out stronger than expected and the output gap

The MAS said the trade ministry would announce growth forecasts for 2025 and 2026 in November. OCBC’s Ling expects the economy to post growth of 3% this year, “even if Q4 growth moderates to below 1% year-on-year”. Maybank economist Chua Hak Bin was more optimistic, expecting GDP to come in closer to 3.5%, higher than his “already bullish GDP forecast of 3.2% for the year”. – Reuters