Samsung Shatters Tech Records With an $80 Billion Quarter Fueled by AI

A Number That Rewrites the Record Books

Samsung Electronics has estimated its operating profit surged nearly ninefold in the third quarter, as strong demand for memory chips from AI companies continues to drive industry-wide shortages. The scale of that achievement is almost hard to process: the world's largest memory-chip maker projected record operating profit of 107.4 trillion won — roughly $80.2 billion — for the July to September period, compared with just 12.2 trillion won in the same quarter a year earlier, and above analyst expectations of 106 trillion won.

Samsung said it became the world's first tech company to report more than 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit. To put that in perspective, it also beats the record Samsung itself set only three months ago, when second-quarter operating profit came in at 89.5 trillion won. The upbeat guidance represents a fourth consecutive quarter of record performance and highlights a prolonged shortage of memory chips as AI companies swoop up supplies and drive up prices.

Why AI Is Making Memory Chips So Valuable

Prices have soared due to the tight supply of conventional DRAM and NAND chips as well as growing demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), essential for processing vast amounts of data for AI applications. None of this happened because Galaxy phones sold better or televisions got cheaper to make — it happened because the chips that go into Nvidia's AI data centers got scarce, and scarce memory chips are suddenly the most profitable thing Samsung makes.

High-bandwidth memory sales have risen sharply, with Samsung's HBM market share jumping from 21% in Q1 to 33% in Q2, according to Counterpoint Research. Its HBM4 chips will also supply NVIDIA's Vera Rubin AI accelerator in the second half of 2026. Sales were estimated at 195 trillion won, up 126.6 percent year on year. The company's semiconductor margins are extraordinary by any standard: Samsung's Device Solutions unit could post operating margins between 72% and 75%, with DRAM margins possibly exceeding 80%.

Not Everything Is Booming

High demand for memory chips — a crucial component in the data centers that power AI — has led to record profits and share prices for Samsung, with its stock more than doubling this year and valuing the company at about $1.3 trillion. But the picture isn't uniformly rosy. The company's foundry and System LSI divisions remain loss-making, and Samsung's foundry head has targeted 2028 for a return to profitability in that segment.

The demand has also put pressure on other buyers of memory chips, including makers of smartphones and computers, which have had to compete with AI giants for limited supply. Everyday consumers aren't immune to the ripple effects — when chip supply tightens, the cost eventually flows downstream into the devices people buy.

How Long Can This Last?

The forecast marks Samsung's fourth straight quarter of record operating profit, underscoring a deepening global memory chip shortage as AI infrastructure investment outpaces supply growth, which has driven chip prices up sharply. Samsung plans to release its full, detailed financial earnings report at the end of October.

Samsung and Micron expect the supply-demand imbalance to persist into 2028, although rising costs, Chinese competition, and potential US semiconductor tariffs pose risks to the longer-term earnings outlook. The AI infrastructure build-out shows no sign of slowing, and with Samsung now holding a dominant position in the chips that make it possible, the company's fortunes are more tightly bound to artificial intelligence than ever before. Whether that's a strength or a vulnerability may depend entirely on how quickly the rest of the world can catch up.