Samsung Electronics has projected that its operating profit nosedived nearly 96 percent for the first quarter.

The tech giant estimated in its earnings guidance on Friday that its operating profit came to 600 billion won, or around 450 million U.S. dollars, in the January-to-March period, a 95-point-75 percent drop on-year.

It marks the first time in 14 years that Samsung has reported a quarterly operating profit of less than one trillion won since the first quarter of 2009, when it posted 590 billion won.

Sales declined 19 percent on-year to 63 trillion in the first quarter.

The drops are attributed to weak demand for memory chips amid the global economic slowdown and falling chip prices.

The performance is lower than the market estimates that operating profit would plummet 94-point-nine percent and sales would slide 17-point-34 percent.

Coinciding with the release, Samsung said that it is adjusting chip output to a "meaningful level," reversing its position that there will be no artificial production cut.