It plans to win more top-tier customers for chip manufacturing in fields outside mobile phones, such as high performance computing, network equipment and the automotive industry. Samsung forecast continued growth in the smartphone market in the second half despite component shortages, and expected the foldable phone market to double in size from the previous year. The South Korean giant confirmed a 51% rise in operating profit to 14.1 trillion won ($11.1 billion) for the quarter ended March 31, in line with its previous forecast. It was the company's highest first-quarter profit since 2018. Still, Samsung shares traded down 0.6% on Thursday, compared with a 0.7% rise in the wider market, extending a year-to-date fall of 17%. "Samsung's stock price is a market issue, rather than an issue arising from the company," said Park Sung-soon, analyst at Cape Investment & Securities.