Samsung Forecasts Record $80 Billion Quarterly Profit as AI Memory Demand Surges

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it expects third-quarter operating profit of about 107.4 trillion won, roughly $80.2 billion, which Reuters reported would be the first time a technology company has topped 100 trillion won in a quarter.

The estimate for the July-September period was slightly above an LSEG SmartEstimate of 106.1 trillion won cited by Reuters and marked a nearly ninefold increase from a year earlier. Samsung said revenue likely rose about 127 percent to 195 trillion won, according to Reuters.

Memory shortage drives a fourth straight record

Reuters reported that the result would be Samsung’s fourth consecutive quarter of record operating profit, reflecting strong prices for conventional memory and for high-bandwidth memory used alongside AI processors. Samsung and Micron expect the supply imbalance to last into 2028, although Reuters noted that Chinese competition and any slowdown in AI spending remain risks.

Investors reacted cautiously. Samsung shares slipped 0.2 percent in early trade while the benchmark KOSPI fell 0.5 percent, according to Reuters, and the stock remains more than 25 percent below its June record high. Analysts cited by Reuters expect slower growth in the fourth quarter as the pace of memory price increases moderates, with TrendForce forecasting conventional DRAM contract prices up 10 to 15 percent.

Samsung plans to release detailed results, including divisional figures, on October 29, according to Reuters. Analysts expect the mobile business to post a loss of more than $1 billion for the quarter and the contract chipmaking business to remain loss-making, even as memory accounts for most of the earnings gain, according to Reuters.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters.