Coronavirus-driven working from home boosted demand for devices and appliances powered by Samsung's memory chips. As a result, the company said that "memory shipments exceeded previous guidance and price increases were higher than expected".

The world's biggest smartphone maker saw net profits rise 73.4 percent year-on-year, $8.4 billion for April-June, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Operating profit increased 54.3 percent from a year earlier, more than half of which came from the firm's semiconductor business.

The strong results come despite an on-quarter decline in Samsung's earnings from its smartphone business because of supply chain problems that disrupted global production.

Analysts expect the chip unit's proportion of the firm's profit is likely to grow in the months ahead.

The firm anticipates favourable market conditions for the rest of the year, with continued demand for memory chips in the server and mobile markets.