Samsung Electronics said Friday it anticipates a massive surge in operating profits in the first quarter, more than tenfold year-over-year or up by over 900% as chip prices rebound.

By far the largest of family-controlled conglomerates that dominate business in Asia's fourth-largest economy, the firm is the flagship subsidiary of South Korean giant Samsung Group.

The tech giant said in a regulatory filing that January-March operating profits were expected to rise 931.3% to 6.6 trillion won ($4.89 billion). Operating profits in the same period last year totaled around 640 billion won.

The expectation exceeded the average estimate by 20.5%, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, which referenced its financial data firm.

Sales, meanwhile, are expected to rise 11.4% to 71 trillion won, Samsung said.

South Korean chipmakers, led by Samsung, enjoyed record profits in recent years as prices for their products soared, but a global economic slowdown dealt a blow to memory chip sales.

However, according to industry monitor World Semiconductor Trade Statistics, the semiconductor market had been predicted to recover this year and grow 11.8%.

The news from Samsung comes after South Korea's SK Hynix – the world's second-largest memory chipmaker – announced in January that it had returned to profit after four consecutive quarters of losses.

Samsung's overall outlook is "fortified by a resurgence in the smartphone market, escalating DRAM (memory chip) prices," Neil Shah, vice president of Counterpoint Research, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Samsung is expected to release its final earnings report at the end of this month.