STORY: Samsung warned Tuesday (July 8) that it is set to miss earnings targets by a wide margin.The South Korean giant projected a 56% plunge in second-quarter operating profit, far worse than expected.Samsung blamed U.S. curbs on the sale of advanced AI chips to China.But analysts said the decline was also due to delays in supplying so-called high-bandwidth memory chips to key U.S. customer Nvidia.Samsung has acknowledged those delays, and had said progress could come by June.However, on Tuesday it would only say that products were undergoing customer evaluation.Key rivals SK Hynix and Micron have benefited from robust demand for AI-related chips in the U.S.But Samsung has been more reliant on sales to China.That has left it exposed to U.S. restrictions and growing competition from Chinese makers.Now potential Washington tariffs also cloud the outlook for the firm’s mainstay products – memory chips and smartphones.Donald Trump has said South Korean exports to the U.S. will face a 25% duty from August 1.“If you want to play ball, this is what you have to pay.”However, analysts do expect Samsung’s profits to gradually improve, helped by new phones and sales of HBM chips to customers other than Nvidia.Shares in the firm were down around half a percent by early afternoon Tuesday.Samsung will release full details of its latest earnings at the end of the month.