Samsung Electronics has said it expects to report a huge rise in its operating profit in the first quarter, offering hopes of a strong recovery after a dismal 2023.

The South Korean tech giant estimates its operating profit to have increased to 6.6 trillion Korean won ($4.9 billion) in the January-to-March quarter, from the 0.64 trillion won reported a year earlier, according to an earnings guidance released on Friday. The forecast is higher than consensus estimates of 5.4 trillion won from FactSet.

Sales are expected to have risen by more than 11% to 71 trillion won, the world’s biggest memory chip maker added. It did not provide any additional details.

 
 
The company is expected to post its detailed earnings results later this month.

The upbeat forecast comes after Samsung reported four straight quarters of declining profits, as demand for consumer devices and the chips that power them remained sluggish last year.

But the company is optimistic about this year and said in January that it expects a resurgence in demand for mobile devices, particularly with the rollout of new products such as AI-powered smartphones.

 
The company also expects its chip business to recover this year “despite various potential obstacles, including interest rate policies and geopolitical issues,” it had said.