Samsung posts record Q3 profit on AI memory boom

Samsung Electronics has projected a record third-quarter operating profit of 107.4 trillion won ($80.17 billion) for the July–September period, beating the LSEG SmartEstimate of 106.1 trillion won, a regulatory filing showed (Reuters).

The figure is up from 12.17 trillion won a year earlier — a nearly nine-fold jump — and marks Samsung’s fourth consecutive quarter of record operating profit. Third-quarter revenue is expected to rise 127% year on year to 195 trillion won (Reuters).

The boom is being driven by soaring demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure, which has outstripped memory chip supply growth — a gap Samsung expects to persist into 2027. Tight supply of conventional DRAM and NAND chips, alongside growing demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI data processing, has pushed prices sharply higher (Reuters).

Before the announcement, analysts had focused on the 100-trillion-won milestone, describing it as a level no South Korean company had ever reached in a single quarter — with the FnGuide consensus estimate at 108.1 trillion won and the June quarter’s 89.4 trillion won the previous record (Economic Times).

The company is expected to release detailed results, including a breakdown of earnings by business division, later this month. ($1 = 1,339.57 won.)