SEOUL, April 30 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF )

reported on Tuesday a more than 10-fold rise in its

first-quarter operating profit, as memory chip prices rose

steeply from a severe downturn thanks in part to a boom in

artificial intelligence.

The world's biggest maker of memory chips and TVs said

operating profit rose to 6.6 trillion won ($4.8 billion) in

January-March, up from 640 billion won a year earlier.

That was in line with Samsung's own estimate of 6.6 trillion

won flagged earlier this month.

($1 = 1,374.1900 won)