Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to report a 30-percent jump in its first-quarter operating profit as strong sales of semiconductors continue to drive earnings, market data showed Wednesday.

According to a survey of earnings forecasts by market tracker FnGuide, Samsung is likely to post an operating profit of 8.7 trillion won ($7.5 billion) for the January-March quarter, up 30.6 percent from the same quarter last year.

January-March sales are likely to fall 0.3 percent on year to 49.6 trillion won. 

With demand for high-performance data storage devices growing, the operating profit from the semiconductor division of Samsung is expected to surpass 5 trillion won for the three-month period, analysts said.

Samsung is the world's largest maker of computer memory chips and flash memory chips for smartphones and other mobile devices.

The prices of DRAM chips jumped 39 percent in January this year.

Samsung is still reeling from the global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, which was discontinued in October last year over safety concerns.

But, analysts reckon that profits in Samsung's mobile division may recover in the first quarter.

Buoyed by the positive outlook, shares of Samsung Electronics ended at a fresh record high of 2,010,000 won on Tuesday. (Yonhap)