Samsung Electronics Co’s quarterly profit sank to an eight-year low as the global economic slowdown has weakened memory chip prices and severely dented demand for electronic goods.

The South Korean multinational conglomerate, which is the world’s largest memory chip, television and smartphone manufacturer, announced in a statement that its October-December operating profit fell 69 per cent to 4.3 trillion won from 13.87 trillion won a year earlier.

Following the company’s announcement, analysts said that they expect Samsung’s profit in the current quarter to sink again as the global economic slowdown sees no signs of improvement.

It may be noted that it was Samsung’s smallest quarterly profit since the third quarter of 2014, as the company struggled with generating profit across all its key business segments. The company also said that its quarterly revenue fell 9 per cent from a year earlier to 70 trillion won.

Rising interest rates across the world and surging inflationary pressure has severely dented global demand for a wide range of electronic goods, especially smartphones, which are Samsung’s mainstay in addition to semiconductors that it sells to rival companies like Apple.

Not just Samsung but technology companies around the world are going through a tough patch in the wake of the global economic slowdown and fears of an impending recession. In view of the ongoing demand slowdown, some major technology companies have already resorted to extreme measures, including mass layoffs to cut costs.

With no signs of improvement in the global economic situation, analysts fear that the global tech industry will face a prolonged challenge which could trigger more layoffs in the near future.