Samsung Electronics' first-quarter operating profit increased slightly.

Samsung Electronics announced a slight increase in operating profit for the first quarter on Wednesday, as customers worried about US tariffs rushed to buy smartphones and commodity chips, easing the impact of its underperforming artificial intelligence chip business. Samsung did not provide an earnings outlook for this quarter, stating that "recent global trade tensions and slowing global economic growth have increased macroeconomic uncertainty," making it "difficult to predict future performance." The world's largest memory chip maker reported operating profit of 6.7 trillion Korean won for the quarter ending in March, a 1.2% increase from the same period last year, in line with previous estimates of 6.6 trillion Korean won. The operating profit of Samsung's chip division dropped by 42% to 1.1 trillion Korean won, while profits from the mobile devices and network business grew by 23% to 4.3 trillion Korean won. Revenue for the January to March period increased by 10% to 79.1 trillion Korean won, matching prior estimates of 79 trillion Korean won.