Samsung Electro-Mechanics said on Wednesday it posted first-quarter sales of 3.21 trillion won and operating profit of 280.6 billion won. Sales rose 17 percent and operating profit increased 40 percent from a year earlier.

It was the first time quarterly sales topped 3 trillion won since the company was founded. Operating profit rose 17 percent from the previous quarter despite a one-off retirement benefit expense of 71.4 billion won being reflected in operating profit.

AI servers and the automotive electronics segment led growth. The company said expanded supply of MLCCs and FCBGA substrates was the direct cause of the rise in sales and profit.

Growth was particularly strong in the package solution business. First-quarter sales in the segment came to 725.0 billion won, up 45 percent from a year earlier. The company attributed the increase to expanded supply of high value-added substrates for AI accelerators, server CPUs and networking for global big tech companies.

Sales in the component business rose 16 percent from a year earlier to 1.41 trillion won. The company said strong growth in AI-related server, power and network sales and expanded supply of MLCCs for automotive use drove the improvement.

The optical solution business also posted sales of 1.08 trillion won over the period. The company cited full-scale mass production of high-performance camera modules, including 200-megapixel cameras for IT devices and slim folded zoom, and expanded supply for automotive use to global electric vehicle makers.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics forecast that strong demand for AI servers, data centres and automotive electronics would continue in the second quarter. It expects demand to continue, centred on high value-added MLCCs and FCBGA, as data centre infrastructure advances and AI servers use more power.

The component business plans to promote customer diversification while developing small, ultra-high capacity, cutting-edge industrial products and accelerating entry into the market for high-capacity, high-voltage products for automotive use.

The package solution business plans to expand sales by supplying next-generation products for AI accelerators and server CPUs, including high-layer-count, large-area and embedded products, on time. It also plans to start full-scale supply of new products for AI data centre networks for new big tech clients.

The optical solution business plans to respond to mass production of next-generation high-definition folded zoom camera modules for flagship smartphones at home and abroad. It will also pursue new mass production of next-generation automotive camera models and expanded supply to domestic OEMs at the same time, as global EV makers shift to new platforms.