The company said that, while semiconductor sales and operating performance were moderately improved over 1986, both declined against the immediate previous quarter.

Aside from the news on semiconductor sales, there was not much to impress traders or investors.

Samsung said it expected semiconductor sales this year to be up 60 percent over last year.

Last year, the company's semiconductor sales reached $7.8 billion, up from $2.7 billion in 1990.

Dataquest Inc., a market research concern, said they accounted for 21 percent of worldwide semiconductor sales last year, or $4.9 billion.

This year, price wars and market gluts for memory chips are likely to reduce global semiconductor sales.

First-quarter semiconductor sales rose 16 percent, to 1.3 billion euros.

The proof, they say, is that the nation has gained market share in semiconductor sales.

Technology issues were also strong, propelled by an encouraging report from a trade group on semiconductor sales.

Analysts estimate that they contributed less than 10 percent of its semiconductor sales last year.