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AI boom: Samsung's quarterly profit tops ₩100tn

AI boom: Samsung's quarterly profit tops ₩100tn

Samsung Electronics expects an operating profit of about ₩107.4 trillion (roughly $80 billion) for the third quarter of 2026, according to the preliminary earnings guidance it published on 8 October 2026. That is 8.8 times the ₩12.17 trillion it earned a year earlier (+782.5%) and 20% more than the record ₩89.49 trillion of the second quarter. According to The Korea Times, it is the first time a Korean company has topped ₩100 trillion in quarterly operating profit. Sales are guided at about ₩195 trillion, up 126.6% from ₩86.06 trillion a year ago. The single quarter alone exceeds Samsung’s combined operating profit for 2023, 2024 and 2025 (₩82.9 trillion).

Memory chips for AI drive the jump

Samsung does not break down its preliminary figures by division. Analysts quoted by The Korea Times estimate that the memory business alone earned about ₩110 trillion, helped by HBM4 sales for Nvidia’s Vera Rubin AI platform and DRAM prices that kept rising at double-digit rates, though more slowly than in the previous quarter. The Device eXperience (DX) division, which includes smartphones, is expected to post its second consecutive quarterly loss (analyst estimates range from ₩1.1 to 2.64 trillion). Memory shortages are also hitting handset demand: according to IDC, cited by the paper, global smartphone shipments fell 7.4% in the second quarter. In Q2, the chip division (DS) delivered ₩89.2 trillion of the ₩89.5 trillion group profit, according to Samsung’s Q2 2026 results.

Only three years ago, Samsung was in a deep memory downturn: in the first half of 2023, it earned less than ₩0.7 trillion per quarter (Samsung, Q1 2024 guidance, Q2 2024 guidance).

QuarterOperating profit (₩ trillion)Sales (₩ trillion)
Q1 20230.6463.75
Q2 20230.6760.01
Q3 20232.4367.40
Q4 20232.8267.78
Q1 20246.6171.92
Q2 202410.4474.07
Q3 20249.1879.10
Q4 20246.4975.79
Q1 20256.6979.14
Q2 20254.6874.57
Q3 202512.1786.06
Q4 202520.0793.84
Q1 202657.23133.87
Q2 202689.49171.5
Q3 2026 (preliminary guidance)107.4~195

Annual totals (sum of the quarters above): 2023 ₩6.56tn, 2024 ₩32.72tn, 2025 ₩43.61tn, together ₩82.89tn. The first three quarters of 2026 add up to ₩254.1tn.

Q3 2026 vs. expectationsOperating profitSales
Samsung guidance₩107.4tn₩195tn
FnGuide consensus (Korea JoongAng Daily)₩106tn₩200.3tn
Brokerage consensus (The Korea Times)₩106.64tn₩200.64tn
LSEG SmartEstimate, 21 analysts (Investing.com)₩106.1tn₩204.8tn

What it means

Profit beat expectations slightly while sales fell a little short, which implies an exceptionally high operating margin of about 55% (₩107.4tn on ₩195tn of sales), up from about 14% a year earlier. Korea JoongAng Daily notes that the result came in above consensus even though the stronger won had been expected to weigh on earnings. The market reaction was muted: Samsung shares rose after the announcement but then slipped, trading 0.37% lower in early Seoul trading, while the KOSPI fell 0.64% to 6,760 (SBS). Investing.com reports that the LSEG profit consensus had been cut by 7.7% since late August, and that the debate has shifted to whether memory margins have peaked as price increases slow. Bernstein expects conventional memory prices to rise by mid-teens to 20% quarter on quarter in Q3 and by a high single-digit amount in Q4.

Analysts expect tight supply to last: “Supply constraints are expected to become more evident in 2027,” said Kim Sun-woo of Meritz Securities (The Korea Times). Samsung publishes its full third-quarter results, including the divisional breakdown, on 29 October 2026.

How to read the chart

  • Each bar is Samsung Electronics’ consolidated operating profit for one quarter, in trillion Korean won, from Q1 2023 to Q3 2026. The number above each bar is the value, rounded to one decimal.
  • Dark blue bars are reported results; the light blue bar is the preliminary guidance for Q3 2026, published on 8 October 2026.
  • The dashed line marks ₩100 trillion, a threshold no Korean company had crossed in a single quarter before.
  • The callout gives the Q3 2026 figure, its change from Q3 2025 and the consensus forecast; the note at bottom left marks the 2023 memory slump.
  • The chip icon in the top-right corner is a decorative symbol for semiconductors, not a company logo.

Sources

Notes

  • Q3 2026 is preliminary guidance, the midpoint of Samsung’s estimated range (operating profit ₩107.3–107.5tn, sales ₩194–196tn). Korean disclosure rules don’t allow a range to be given as guidance. Final results, with the divisional breakdown, are due on 29 October 2026.
  • All earlier quarters are the final reported figures (K-IFRS, consolidated) as Samsung lists them as comparison values in its later guidance releases. Q2 2026 is ₩89.49tn (89.5 in the results release).
  • The chart labels are rounded to one decimal place. The US dollar figure (≈$80bn) is the media’s conversion (The Korea Times: $80.28bn); exchange rates differ between sources.
  • Annual totals and the ~55% operating margin were calculated for this chart from Samsung’s quarterly figures; they are not company-reported numbers.
  • Memory profit (~₩110tn) and DX losses are analyst estimates, not company data.
  • Consensus figures differ by provider (FnGuide, brokerage compilations, LSEG); the chart uses “₩106tn” (FnGuide).
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