Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday its initially-quarter working profit very likely managed to rise a little from a slump a year previously, as sound chip product sales aided cushion the blow from the coronavirus pandemic on smartphones and TVs.The worldwide chief in semiconductors is benefiting from larger demand for chips from laptop computer makers and knowledge centres amid the coronavirus-driven change to functioning from house.But at the exact time the South Korean tech giant is also expecting a even larger strike to its cellular and buyer electronics sales in the recent quarter as the novel coronavirus sweeps as a result of Europe and the United States – key marketplaces for its top quality smartphones and TVs.Samsung explained running financial gain was envisioned to be KRW 6.4 trillion ($5.2 billion) in the quarter ended March, in contrast with KRW 6.2 trillion a calendar year back and the KRW 6.2 trillion estimate from analysts in accordance to Refinitiv SmartEstimate.Profits probable rose 5 percent to 55 trillion won from a yr back, in line with the 55.6 trillion won estimate.Samsung Electronics shares were up 1.6 percent in morning trade, when compared to a 1.3 percent rise of the broader market place.The maker of smartphones, TVs, appliances, memory chips and displays is the initially worldwide tech corporation to report its January-to-March quarter earnings estimates.Samsung Electronics claimed in March the coronavirus pandemic would hurt gross sales of smartphones and shopper electronics this year, when demand from data centres would gas a recovery in memory chip marketplaces.The initially-quarter effects are smaller than Samsung’s internal forecast from early March, and the company is anticipating a greater strike from the virus in the next quarter, a person familiar with Samsung’s functions stated.”Even while Samsung’s cellular business enterprise was strike by the coronavirus outbreak this quarter, it will very likely face larger difficulties in the second quarter – now that the United States and Europe have turn out to be the most difficult-hit countries,” Kim Sunlight-woo, an analyst at Meritz Securities, stated.Hana Economical Expense a short while ago slice its forecast for Samsung’s smartphone shipments to 260 million, from an first forecast of 300 million since of slower demand for its higher-close smartphones, which will also erode its mobile margins.Taiwan’s Foxconn, a important provider of Apple Inc’s products and solutions, explained on Monday that its January-March earnings declined 12 percent from the prior year, soon after Apple warned it was unlikely to meet up with its March-quarter income steerage.When the outbreak initial started off in China past year, Samsung’s system of spreading out its production base to nations like Vietnam and India seemed to shell out off as supply disruptions in China strike rivals this kind of as Apple.But as the virus spread throughout the globe, Samsung much too has had to shut factories and retail merchants in Europe, India and the United States.Chip bufferThe corporation did not supply a breakdown on expected earnings for each division in its steering launched on Tuesday.Analysts say the company’s memory chip enterprise, which created a lot more than 50 percent of its operating income in 2019, would probably report far better-than-envisioned success in the first quarter.Memory chip costs are soaring as perform-from-property specifications boost desire from the data centres that aid Online solutions this kind of as streaming and cloud computing, analysts have explained.Price ranges for DRAM memory chips are up far more than 3.5 percent since January, according to field tracker DRAMeXchange.Lots of analysts experienced expected Samsung to rebound strongly from its worst operating profit in four decades in 2019, but the pandemic has compelled some to lower their earnings estimates for this calendar year thanks to tension on smartphone sales.A additional prolonged coronavirus crisis could also spill over into the chip sector, analysts say.© Thomson Reuters 2020