Samsung Electronics said on Thursday its operating profit jumped eightfold to a record ‌in the first quarter, underpinned by higher chip ‌prices as an artificial intelligence boom led to a supply crunch. Samsung expects ​earnings to improve further in the second quarter, saying investment in AI infrastructure would continue to expand, driving up memory chip prices. The world's top memory chipmaker posted 57.2 trillion won ($38.43 ‌billion) in operating profit ⁠for the January-to-March period, in line with its estimate of 57.2 trillion won and up ⁠from 6.69 trillion won a year earlier.