Samsung’s chief executive told reporters this week that the Seoul-based company will spend more on memory chips in the second half of 2011, according to media reports.

Choi Gee-sung, CEO of Samsung Electronics, said the company plans to raise investment in memory chips this year and will not cut its total investment for the second half” despite economic uncertainty hitting component demand,” Reuters reported Monday.

However, debt problems in the U.S. and overseas continue to lower prices of memory chips, flat screens and sales of computers and televisions, the report points out.

“Memory chips will receive more investment than we had originally planned...and our total capital spending in the second half will not be reduced,” Gee-sung told reporters during an industry meeting in Seoul.

Samsung, which is due to report its second-quarter results on Friday, said its operating profit during first quarter of 2011 would likely drop to between 2.7 trillion won and 3.1 trillion won ($2.85 billion) from 4.41 trillion won during the same quarter in 2010, according to a report from the Associated Press.

According to Reuters, Samsung, the world’s No.1 maker of memory chips and televisions and No. 2 manufacturer of mobile phones, spent 5.5 trillion won in the first quarter.

Samsung, which makes the Galaxy S smartphone and Galaxy Tab tablet computer, was the top handset manufacturer in the U.S. with 24.5 percent market share during the first quarter of 2011, TechZone360 reported.

In related news, TechZone360 reported that Verizon will bring 4G Long Term Evolution connectivity to Samsung’s Galaxy Tablet later this week.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be enhanced with 4G radio, while all the other specs will remain the same. Consequently, it will still come with a dual-core 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, 1 GB of RAM with an option for 16 GB or 32 GB of internal memory.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.