Samsung Forecasts Record $80bn Operating Profit on AI Memory Boom

Samsung Electronics has forecast third-quarter 2026 operating profit of approximately ₩107.4 trillion, or about US$80.17 billion in Reuters’ calculation, as demand for AI-related memory chips drives prices higher.

The preliminary guidance, issued in South Korea on Thursday 8 October, puts revenue at around ₩195 trillion. Samsung’s operating-profit estimate ranges from ₩107.3 trillion to ₩107.5 trillion, while revenue is expected to fall between ₩194 trillion and ₩196 trillion.

If confirmed, the operating-profit figure would be 782.5% above the ₩12.17 trillion reported in the same quarter last year, marking a new quarterly record and Samsung’s first quarter above ₩100 trillion in operating profit.

Memory demand is doing the heavy lifting

Samsung did not provide a business-by-business breakdown alongside its guidance. Reuters and Yonhap attribute the expected jump chiefly to its semiconductor operation, where AI infrastructure investment is increasing demand for conventional DRAM and NAND memory as well as high-bandwidth memory, or HBM.

Supply shortages, higher memory prices and a shift towards higher-value products have strengthened the outlook. Reuters cited Douglas Research Advisory analyst Douglas Kim, who estimated Samsung’s HBM bit shipments rose by close to 50% quarter on quarter during the third quarter.

Yonhap also reported that Samsung has begun mass production and shipments of sixth-generation HBM4 chips. Those products are expected to make a more meaningful earnings contribution in 2027, rather than being the main driver of this quarter’s forecast.

Not every Samsung division benefits

The memory boom is also increasing costs elsewhere in Samsung’s business. Reuters reported that analysts expect the mobile division to post a larger-than-expected third-quarter loss of more than US$1 billion, while higher memory-component costs are pressuring its smartphone and consumer-electronics operations.

Samsung’s foundry business is also expected by analysts to remain loss-making, owing to fixed costs and low utilisation. These divisional estimates were not included in Samsung’s preliminary guidance.

Why it matters for UK buyers

This is not a consumer-product announcement, and Samsung has not confirmed UK price changes for any Galaxy phone, tablet, TV or appliance. But the same broad memory supply ecosystem serves both AI data centres and consumer electronics, so sustained shortages and higher chip prices could make it harder for manufacturers to keep costs down.

Samsung will publish detailed, externally audited third-quarter results on 29 October. Those figures should show how much of the forecast profit came from memory, mobile products, displays, foundry operations and consumer electronics.