Samsung Electronics Breaks New Ground With First Quarterly Operating Profit Above $100 Billion

Samsung Electronics has shattered records by generating over 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit, driven by an artificial intelligence and memory semiconductor boom. The South Korean tech giant forecasted consolidated sales of 195 trillion won and an operating profit of 107.4 trillion won for the third quarter of 2026.

Sales increased by 126.6% from the same period last year, while operating profit surged by 782.5%, both records. This marks four consecutive quarters of record-breaking quarterly profits since last year's fourth quarter. Samsung's quarterly profit now surpasses that of Nvidia, the world's most valuable technology company, which reported around 85 trillion won in operating profit.

The surge was mainly fueled by Samsung's semiconductor business, which has seen a sharp rise in demand for memory chips in AI data centers. While the final business division results are yet to be disclosed, analysts predict the Device Solutions division alone generated over 100 trillion won in operating profit, with the memory business likely contributing the majority.

The memory market is experiencing a significant upswing due to the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure, with high-bandwidth memory (HBM) becoming a crucial component for AI accelerators and demand for conventional DRAM growing as data centers scale up. Samsung has capitalized on higher shipment volumes and rising chip prices, significantly boosting its memory operations' profitability.

The company has also ramped up production of HBM4, the latest generation of high-bandwidth memory, as demand from AI chip manufacturers surges. This could further strengthen Samsung's position in the expanding AI memory market. However, Samsung's overall business performance remains mixed. The Device Experience division, which includes smartphones, televisions, and home appliances, has faced rising component costs, putting pressure on the company's broader portfolio.

Despite the company's record earnings, maintaining such profitability will be challenging, as the memory industry is cyclical and potential capacity increases could eventually put downward pressure on chip prices.