Samsung posted 2.19 trillion won of net profit on sales of 15.22 trillion won. The operating profit was 1.85 trillion won.

The rise of DRAM memory chip prices helped the firm attain the favorable quarterly result, and Samsung will increase the chip manufacturing by investing an additional 1 trillion within the year, Samsung said. The year’s total investment is planned to be 10.24 trillion won, with 6.66 trillion won allocated to the semiconductor sector.

``It was a very unusual increase in net profit,’’ said Chu Woo-sik, Samsung’s vice president of investor relations. ``We are expecting a significant improvement in the next quarter, too, in every business division.’’

Operating profit of the semiconductor division reached 1.27 trillion won on revenue of 4.91 trillion won, as the company has capitalized on the global shortage of DRAM chips that subsequently led to a surge in prices. Currently, Samsung manages to meet only 70 percent of DRAM orders, and that has caused a ``pleasant headache’’ to the division’s chief Hwang Chang-gyu, the company spokesman said.