Samsung Posts Record Q1 Revenue and Profit as AI Memory Demand Soars

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it posted record first-quarter revenue and operating profit, with surging semiconductor earnings from AI-related memory demand doing most of the work. The South Korean company reported KRW 133.9 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 57.2 trillion in operating profit for the quarter ended March 31, both all-time quarterly highs. The scale was unusual even for Samsung: its operating profit in the first three months of 2026 alone was larger than the KRW 43.6 trillion it earned in all of 2025.

The source of that profit was clear. Samsung’s Device Solutions division, which includes its semiconductor business, generated KRW 81.7 trillion in revenue and KRW 53.7 trillion in operating profit in the quarter. That means chips accounted for the vast majority of the group’s KRW 57.2 trillion operating profit, far outstripping contributions from smartphones, displays and home electronics.

In its earnings release, Samsung said memory was the main driver. “The Company posted KRW 133.9 trillion in consolidated revenue, an all-time quarterly high, representing a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) increase of 43%. Operating profit was also an all-time high, increasing to KRW 57.2 trillion,” the company said. Samsung said its Memory Business set all-time quarterly records for both revenue and operating profit, helped by technology leadership and higher average selling prices. It also said the performance included the start of mass sales of HBM4 and SOCAMM2 for NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin platform, as well as development of PCIe Gen6 solid-state drives. Samsung described those HBM4 and SOCAMM2 shipments as an “industry’s first,” a company claim that has not been independently verified here.

Other businesses were profitable, but on a much smaller scale. Samsung’s mobile and networks division reported KRW 38.1 trillion in revenue and KRW 2.8 trillion in operating profit. Samsung Display posted KRW 6.7 trillion in revenue and KRW 0.4 trillion in operating profit. Its visual display and digital appliances businesses recorded KRW 14.3 trillion in revenue and KRW 0.2 trillion in operating profit.

The detailed results were broadly in line with the preliminary guidance Samsung issued April 7, when it estimated about KRW 133 trillion in sales and operating profit of KRW 57.1 trillion to KRW 57.3 trillion. The year-over-year jump was stark. In the first quarter of 2025, Samsung reported KRW 79.14 trillion in revenue and KRW 6.7 trillion in operating profit. One year later, quarterly operating profit had risen by more than eightfold, underscoring how sharply the AI infrastructure boom has lifted demand for high-value memory chips used in advanced servers and accelerator systems.

Samsung’s report also fits a broader industry pattern rather than a company-specific outlier. Micron said in March that it had begun high-volume production of HBM4 designed for NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin platform, and SK hynix reported exceptionally strong first-quarter 2026 results in late April. Samsung said it expects strong memory demand to continue in the second quarter and plans to provide its first HBM4E samples during the period, suggesting the AI-memory upswing is still running.