Seoul, Oct. 14 -- South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. saw its third-quarter operating profit rise by nearly 32 per cent on strong demand for chips, according to a report by Pulse, the English service of Maeil Business Newspaper Korea.

Citing Samsung Electronics' regulatory filing, the report on Tuesday stated that its preliminary operating profit for the third quarter stood at 12.1 trillion won (approximately USD 8.48 billion), up 31.81 per cent from the same period a year ago.

The figure was 158.55 per cent higher than 4.68 trillion won (USD 3.28 billion) in the second quarter.

The report stated that it marks Samsung's first time in five quarters to record an operating profit exceeding 10 trillion won (approximately USD 7....