A record quarter, powered by AI memory
Samsung Electronics just posted the biggest quarter in its history. In Q3 2026, operating profit reached ₩107.4 trillion on revenue of ₩195.3 trillion, up 127% from a year ago. It's Samsung's fourth record quarter in a row, and Samsung says it is the first tech company ever to top ₩100 trillion of operating profit in a single quarter.
Operating profit jumped about 783% year over year, for a margin of around 55%. Net profit was ₩75.1 trillion, about $56 billion according to Yonhap.
99% from chips
Samsung's chip division, Device Solutions, made ₩106.5 trillion of that operating profit: about 99% of the total. Samsung says memory prices rose across the board, led by servers for AI.
The star: HBM
HBM (high-bandwidth memory) is super-fast memory stacked right next to AI chips. Every big AI accelerator needs it, and only a few companies can make it.
On its earnings call, Samsung said HBM4 sales more than tripled from the previous quarter and now make up about 60% of its HBM sales. It also said its 2027 HBM supply is already sold out at its target prices.
Memory is one side of the AI build-out; data centers are the other. See our brief on AWS and the AI data center boom.
What it means for your money
- AI needs more than processors. Memory makers are getting a big share of AI spending.
- Sold-out supply shows demand. Orders for 2027 are already locked in, according to Samsung.
- Memory is cyclical. Prices can rise fast and fall fast; record quarters don't last forever.
Not financial advice.
Sources
How we checked
Every claim above is backed by at least two of the sources listed, using the original report or the company's own statement where there is one. If we could only find something in one place, it didn't make the cut.
This is news and information only, not financial, legal or security advice. Read our disclosures.
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