According to the Wall Street Journal, the head of Samsung Electronics’ consumer products expects demand for technology products to remain sluggish this year due to high inflation, rising interest rates and the strong dollar putting pressure on sales.
Han Jong-hee, vice chairman and co-CEO of Samsung Electronics, expressed hope that the current industry downturn, which has led to an interruption in Samsung Electronics’ record profit momentum, will begin to improve in the second half of this year.
Despite the challenges posed to the company by sluggish demand, Han Jong-hee said Samsung Electronics plans to overcome the current market challenges by strengthening the integration of connected devices and related software, in which Samsung previously lagged behind competitors such as Apple Inc.
Samsung previously expected its annual operating profit from semiconductor sales to reach about 13.1 trillion won (about 70.871 billion RMB) in 2023. If Samsung’s expectations are realized, its device solutions division’s operating profit next year will be about half of its annual operating profit in 2022.
