*

Q4 operating profit of 6.5 trln won trails 7.7 trln won

LSEG

SmartEstimate

*

Earnings dented by rising R&D costs, investments in

advanced

chip manufacturing

*

Delays to providing Nvidia ( NVDA ) with high-end chips weighing on

earnings-analysts

(Adds fuller Samsung statement, background)

By Hyunjoo Jin and Joyce Lee

SEOUL, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF )

released on Wednesday a fourth-quarter operating profit estimate

that missed analyst estimates by a large margin, as it lagged

behind rival SK Hynix ( HXSCF ) in supplying high-end chips to

Nvidia ( NVDA ).

The world's largest memory chip, smartphone and TV maker

estimated an operating profit of 6.5 trillion won ($4.47

billion) for the three months ended Dec. 31, versus a 7.7

trillion won LSEG SmartEstimate.

The estimated result was 131% higher than the same period a

year earlier, but down 29% from the third quarter. Samsung

shares were down 1% in early trading, while the broader South

Korean market was up 0.1%.

Samsung said in a statement that amid slowing demand for

conventional memory chips used in PCs and mobile phones, its

memory chip earnings for the fourth-quarter were dented by

rising research and development costs and investments in

manufacturing capacity for advanced chip processes.

It also said earnings fell in its non-memory chip

business, which spans contract chip manufacturing and logic chip

design, due to lower utilisation rates at its factories and

higher research and development costs.

Earnings for its devices business, which includes mobile

phones, TVs and household appliances, fell due to the fading

effect of sales of new mobile phone models and rising

competition, Samsung said.

In October, the South Korean company made a rare apology for

its disappointing third-quarter performance and said it was

making progress in supplying artificial intelligence chips to

Nvidia ( NVDA ).

But it has not provided any update since, and delays to

providing Nvidia ( NVDA ) with high-end chips have continued to weigh on

its earnings, analysts said.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) CEO Jensen Huang told reporters in Las Vegas on

Tuesday that Samsung has to "engineer a new design" to supply

high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips to Nvidia ( NVDA ), adding that "they

can do it and they are working very fast," Korea JoongAng Daily

reported.

Samsung's statement on Wednesday did not include any update

on its progress in supplying HBM to Nvidia ( NVDA ).

($1 = 1,454.6000 won)