Samsung flags 783% profit jump to record $80bn as AI chip boom also lifts TSMC sales

Two of Asia's leading chipmakers, Samsung and TSMC, have reported unprecedented growth figures, with Samsung on track for its highest-ever quarterly profit and TSMC recording a record revenue surge, both fueled by the booming artificial intelligence sector. Samsung projected an operating profit of 107.4 trillion won, or $80.2 billion, marking a staggering 782.5% increase year-on-year.

This would be the largest quarterly operating profit ever recorded by a technology company, surpassing Nvidia's $63.7 billion in operating income. Samsung's sales are expected to reach 195 trillion won, or $145.6 billion, a 127% year-on-year increase, indicating an operating margin of around 55%. The company's memory chips, particularly high-bandwidth memory (HBM), are in high demand due to their role in AI data centers, and supply constraints are driving up prices for DRAM and NAND memory.

TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, reported a revenue of 511.86 billion Taiwan dollars, or roughly $16 billion, a 54.6% year-on-year increase. This brought their third-quarter revenue to an all-time high, well above their own guidance. The company's stock experienced a 1.35% decrease following the release of these figures.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's exports, bolstered by demand for AI hardware, reached a record $87.2 billion in September, contributing to the island's GDP growth of 12.9% year-on-year in the second quarter. The upcoming earnings reports from Samsung and TSMC will provide insight into the sustainability of this AI chip boom.