Samsung Electronics’ Quarterly Operating Profit Tops $73 Billion for First Time on AI Memory Demand

Samsung Electronics’ quarterly operating profit topped $73 billion for the first time, boosted by stronger demand for memory chips used in artificial intelligence. Semiconductors drove the earnings surge, while its finished-goods businesses appear to have faced mounting cost pressure from higher memory prices.

Samsung said on October 8 that preliminary third-quarter operating profit jumped 782.5% from a year earlier to 107.4 trillion won ($78.7 billion). Revenue rose 126.59% to 195 trillion won ($143.0 billion). Both were quarterly records, and operating profit set a fresh high for a fourth consecutive quarter. The operating margin was 55.08%.

Compared with market expectations, operating profit came in slightly above forecasts, while revenue fell short. The average estimate compiled by investment-information platform EpicAI was for revenue of 201.1109 trillion won ($147.5 billion) and operating profit of 107.086 trillion won ($78.4 billion).

The main driver of the earnings improvement was the Device Solutions, or DS, division, which oversees semiconductors. DS operating profit is estimated to have exceeded 100 trillion won ($73.3 billion). The gain reflected full-scale contributions from sales of HBM4, the sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory supplied for Nvidia’s Vera Rubin AI accelerators.

Prices for commodity memory also continued to rise amid supply shortages. According to market researcher DRAMeXchange, the average price of PC DRAM reached a record $26 in September. Average prices for NAND products used in memory cards and USB devices also hit an all-time high of $30.61.

By contrast, the Device eXperience, or DX, division, which makes smartphones and home appliances, is estimated to have posted a wider operating loss. The sharp rise in memory prices boosted profitability in the semiconductor business while increasing cost burdens for finished products.