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

reported on Wednesday a small rise in first-quarter

operating profit, as customers concerned about U.S. tariffs

rushed to purchase smartphones and commodity chips, mitigating

the impact of its underperforming artificial intelligence chip

business.

The world's largest memory chip maker reported 6.7 trillion

won ($4.68 billion) in operating profit for the quarter ended in

March, up 1.2% from a year earlier and in line with its earlier

estimate of 6.6 trillion won.

($1 = 1,431.5000 won)