Samsung Electronics Co Ltd flagged a gradual recovery for chips in the second half of the year after its semiconductor business reported a record loss on Thursday, driven by a chip glut from weak demand for tech devices.

A global downturn in semiconductor purchases amid an economic slowdown and corporate belt-tightening sent chip prices plummeting in the first quarter, triggering production cuts across the sector.

By the second half of the year, customers will have run down inventory and gradually start buying chips again, Samsung said.

"We expect inventory levels to start dropping in the second quarter," said Jaejune Kim, executive vice president of Samsung's memory business.

For the current quarter, Samsung said it expected limited recovery for memory chips as major data centre firmsinvested more conservatively in servers.