SEOUL (dpa-AFX) - Electronics giant Samsung clearly felt the weakness of the global economy in the fourth quarter of 2022. Profit from ordinary operations fell 69 percent year-on-year to 4.3 trillion won (about 2.3 billion euros), South Korea's market-leading maker of memory chips and smartphones said Tuesday. It was the lowest operating profit in eight years for Samsung Electronics. It said demand remained sluggish in its smartphone business and prices fell for memory chips.

The bottom line, however, was that Samsung posted a surplus of 23.84 trillion won in the final quarter, more than double the previous year's figure. Sales fell 8 percent to 70.46 trillion won (52.7 billion euros).

Amid the global economic slowdown, the business environment deteriorated significantly in the fourth quarter due to weak demand, a company statement said. As a result, its 2023 forecast was cautiously optimistic: "While macroeconomic uncertainties are expected to persist, the company expects demand to begin to recover in the second half."

Overall demand for memory chips declined, Samsung said, as customers continued to shift inventory. That was also related to external uncertainties, he said. Operating profit from Samsung's semiconductor division alone plunged 97 percent in the fourth quarter, from 8.84 trillion won a year earlier to just 0.27 trillion won.

The semiconductor industry had already anticipated weaker memory demand in the second half of the year in the face of a looming recession. High inflation dampened consumer sentiment, which also weighed on chip producers.

In the mobile device sector, including smartphones, Samsung said that the market for mass-produced products in particular shrank more than expected due to inflation. The impact of newly launched devices had also weakened. In terms of sales, however, flagship models held their own relative to market forecasts.

For the full year 2022, Samsung posted an all-time high of 302.23 trillion won (226 billion euros) in sales. Net income increased nearly 40 percent to 55.65 trillion won.

Samsung plans to keep investment stable this year despite the current weak demand in the chip sector. This disappointed investors. These had hoped that the group would act more cautiously here. The company's shares slid more than two percent on the Seoul Stock Exchange./dg/DP/mis