Samsung expects $80 billion profit in quarterly earnings upon AI boom

Samsung Electronics expects third-quarter operating profit to hit about 107.4 trillion won ($80.2 billion), about nine times the figure from one year earlier. This, if eventually confirmed, would be the largest quarterly operating profit ever reported by a technology company.

Samsung is one of the biggest suppliers of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and demand for HBM has surged well beyond available supply, and these factors are driving the business’ strong performance.

Yahoo Finance reported that the company expects third-quarter sales of around 195 trillion won ($145.6 billion), a 127% increase from a year earlier placing the company’s operating margin at about 55%.

Samsung quarterly numbers a first

A quarterly operating profit of over 100 trillion won would make Samsung the very first South Korean company to hit this profit milestone and mark the tech giant’s fourth consecutive record quarter. The estimated number is 782.5% higher than the 12.17 trillion won Samsung had reported a year earlier, according to Yahoo Finance.

This number would also put Samsung well ahead of Nvidia, which recorded $63.7 billion in operating income in the second quarter of 2026.

Samsung’s guidance came in just above the 106.1 trillion won analysts had previously expected, based on LSEG data. South Korean companies tend to issue these preliminary figures before the full results are published, with investors paying very close attention since the estimates are based on internal company data and not any external models.

AI supply chain continues to boom

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has also reported a 54.6% annual increase in September revenue to NT$511.86 billion (about $16 billion), according to Yahoo Finance. This result pushed the chipmaker’s estimated third-quarter revenue to a record NT$1.49 trillion ($46.8 billion), surpassing the high end of its own guidance. TSMC is a top chip manufacturer for companies such as Nvidia and Apple.

Taiwan’s trade data has also shown the strength of the AI-driven chip boom, with exports seeing a 60.9% increase from last year to a record $87.2 billion in September.

Investors still took money off the table

Samsung shares closed 2.42% lower at 262,000 won in Seoul on Thursday as traders booked profits and wondered how long the memory cycle can continue to hold, while the broader KOSPI index fell by 2.62%. Regardless, the stock has still nearly quadrupled over the past year.

The spending behind the AI expansion is showing no signs of slowing. Google, Amazon and Meta have all pledged over $650 billion toward AI interests this year alone, according to the BBC, while South Korea announced at least $880 billion in chip investments in June, led by Samsung and SK Hynix.

Samsung did not provide a breakdown by division and is due to release its full third-quarter results on October 29. Its smartphone business is also expected to have benefited from the Galaxy Fold and S26, which launched in August.

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