01/05/2026

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | MAY 1, 2026

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Samsung Electronics posts record quarterly profit o Company expects

China’s April factory activity expands despite Mideast war BEIJING: China’s factory activity grew for a second straight month in April, official data showed yesterday, showing resilience despite surging energy prices and shipping disruption caused by the war in the Middle East. The manufacturing purchasing manager’s index – a key measure of industrial activity – was 50.3 in April, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), above the 50-point mark that divides expansion and contraction. That figure fell from 50.4 in March, but was ahead of a forecast of 50.1 in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The world’s second-largest economy has been struggling with a slowdown in domestic demand and investment in recent years that has weighed on its vast manufacturing sector. March’s figure was the highest in a year, with manufacturing activity contracting in 10 out of 11 months before that. April’s statistics showed economic output had “maintained expansion” while manufacturing “continued to show a positive trend”, according to NBS statistician Huo Lihui. There was strong demand for electrical and IT equipment, but weaker market activity for petroleum and coal processing, Huo said in a statement. But manufacturers faced higher costs as the prices of raw materials rose significantly, particularly in the energy and chemical sectors, Huo said. The data suggests Chinese producers remain resilient despite global economic disruption caused by the US-Israeli war with Iran that has seen energy prices surge and Tehran restrict access to the vital Strait of Hormuz. “The PMI index shows the manufacturing sector has not been adversely affected by the conflict in the Middle East,“ according to Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. “The monetary policy stance seems to have a marginally loosening bias, which helps to mitigate the higher energy prices,“ he said in a note. Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics added that exports and strong external demand were the main drivers. “Soaring demand for memory chips and green tech products likely played a key role,“ he said. Despite the positive factory data, China’s non-manufacturing PMI – a gauge of activity across services and construction – slumped to 49.4 in April, down from 50.1 in March. Business activity in the wholesale and retail sectors contracted, suggesting consumer demand remains weak. – AFP

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics said yesterday that operating profit soared 750% on-year to a record high in the first quarter thanks to strong sales of chips crucial for artificial intelligence, and forecast continued healthy demand in the next three months. The South Korean technology giant has emerged as a key player – along with rival SK hynix – in the supply of high-performing chips in demand from companies racing to keep up with the fast-evolving AI industry. Their strong performance has come as the South Korean government has pledged to make the country one of the world’s top three AI powers alongside the United States and China. Samsung said in its earnings report yesterday it had “achieved record quarterly revenue and operating profit through AI technology innovations and proactive market response”. It said operating profit came in at 57.2 trillion won (RM153 billion), having said earlier in the month that it expected to reach a quarterly record. Net profit hit 47.1 trillion won, beating forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of analysts, while sales reached 133.9 trillion won, an all-time quarterly high. Its chips division also beat expectations with a huge rise in profit to 53.7 trillion won, accounting for the bulk of the unit’s total. The company said its memory arm “surpassed its quarterly sales record by addressing high-value-added AI demand despite limited supply availability, with industry-wide memory price increases also a contributing factor”. It added that it expected “strong memory demand to continue” through the second quarter as the buildout of AI infrastructure continues apace. Chief financial officer Park Soon-cheol brushed off concerns about supply chain disruption due to the Middle East war, saying “semiconductor production lines are currently operating normally”. “Risk is low due to secured logistics routes ‘strong memory demand to continue’ amid AI boom

People walk past a large electronic screen showing the Samsung logo at a train station in Seoul yesterday. – AFPPIC

threatened strike next month as workers demand higher pay and bonuses. Tens of thousands of unionised staff held a rally last week outside the company’s plant in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, to call for a 7% wage hike, the end of a cap on bonuses and other benefits. A group of unions representing nearly 90,000 workers in total have said they will stage a strike from May 21 to June 7 unless a deal with management is reached. The company will “respond to the fullest extent within the legal scope ... to ensure that production is not disrupted even if a strike occurs”, Park said. The company also faces a lawsuit in the United States alleging that it violated patents related to foldable smartphone technology by making and selling Galaxy Z Fold, Z Flip, and Z TriFold devices without permission, according to court documents. SK hynix said last week net profit had soared almost 400% to a record high in the first quarter. – AFP

and diversified trading partners in the US, Japan, and other regions,” he said. South Korea’s benchmark Kospi stock index jumped to a fresh record above 6,700 points following the figures, which came after strong earnings from US tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet. Samsung’s shares were down in morning trading. Samsung’s shares have risen around 300 percent over the past year as the AI boom boosts South Korean growth and pushes the stock market to new records. The company has seen strong orders from major technology firms for high-bandwidth memory – a type of chip used in data centres and AI “accelerators”, which are useful in carrying out demanding tasks and computation. That is also pushing up the cost of less flashy chips used in consumer electronics – threatening higher prices for phones, laptops and other devices worldwide. However, Samsung faces risks from a

Prices of Nvidia’s B300 server hit US$1m in China on US curbs: Sources BEIJING: Strong demand for AI computing equipment in China has nearly doubled prices for Nvidia’s B300 servers to about 7 million yuan (US$1 million or RM3.97 million) each, industry sources said, as a crackdown on chip smuggling dries up black-market supply. Reuters is the first to report the million-dollar price tag. Responding to questions from Reuters, Nvidia said the B300 was restricted from sale in China, and its partners needed to be committed to strict compliance. It comes as Chinese tech giants scramble for the most cost-efficient hardware for generating tokens, the basic units of text processed by an AI model, to monetise their models and computing infrastructure. seven folds in February and March compared with December, the US investment bank said. Nvidia’s B300, packed with 288 GB of high bandwidth memory, delivers 14 petaFLOPS of computing power at FP4 precision, ranking it among the most powerful chips available for AI inference tasks. Nvidia and partners, such as Supermicro, began shipping the chip last September.

The scarcity followed U.S. authorities’ March prosecution of Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, a co-founder of Nvidia partner Supermicro, the sources added. Some companies finding the price rise has put purchases out of reach are instead exploring options for rentals, which have risen as high as 190,000 yuan a month on a one-year short-term contract. Chinese AI models nearly tripled their share of global token usage to 32% in March 2026 from 5% a year earlier, driven by advances in coding and agentic capabilities, Morgan Stanley said in a note. MiniMax, Zhipu and Alibaba’s Qwen each reported token usage rising as much as six to

“As systems become increasingly large and complex, unlawful diversion is a recipe for failure,“ it warned in a statement. “Nvidia does not provide any service or support for such systems, and the enforcement mechanisms are rigorous and effective.” A B300 server, which houses eight B300 GPUs, is priced at about US$550,000 in the United States, up from around US$500,000 late last year, two of the sources said. The near-doubling of prices in China, from about 4 million yuan late last year, reflects a scarcity premium driven by tighter US curbs on exports.

Prices of Nvidia’s most advanced and powerful server, critical for artificial intelligence tasks, have climbed since early this year, but rose sharply after the grey market, a key supply channel, came under pressure, the four sources said. The price surge is also being driven by robust computing demand from Chinese technology companies, even as many avoid holding Nvidia hardware directly on their books for fear of exposure to US sanctions, the sources said. They spoke on condition of anonymity as the matter is a sensitive one.

Uncertainty surrounding exports of H200 chips have also fuelled the recent surge in the price of B300. Despite receiving approvals from both governments for exports, the H200 has yet to be shipped to China as the two sides remain at odds over the conditions governing its sale. Tech giant Huawei and other Chinese AI chipmakers have moved to exploit this disagreement, as they seek to erode Nvidia’s market-leading share of 55% in China, where competitor AMD has a share of 4%. – Reuters