Samsung Posts Record KRW 107.4 Trillion Quarterly Operating Profit on AI Chip Surge

Samsung Electronics reported another record quarter on Thursday, posting KRW 195.3 trillion in revenue and KRW 107.4 trillion in operating profit for the three months ended Sept. 30, as booming demand for AI-related chips lifted its results to a level the company said no technology group had reached before. In a statement, Samsung said it was the “world’s first tech company to exceed KRW 100 trillion in quarterly operating profit.” Based on company-reported figures, that works out to an operating margin of about 55%.

The profit surge came almost entirely from Samsung’s semiconductor arm. Its Device Solutions division, which includes memory chips, foundry manufacturing and System LSI chip design, reported KRW 147.1 trillion in revenue and KRW 106.5 trillion in operating profit. By contrast, the Device eXperience division, which includes smartphones and consumer electronics, said revenue rose 8% from the previous quarter but it posted an operating loss of KRW 0.8 trillion.

Samsung said its memory business reached all-time highs in both quarterly revenue and operating profit, driven by AI-related server demand. The company pointed to expanded sales of HBM4, a high-bandwidth memory used in AI systems, along with strong demand for server DRAM and SSDs, or solid-state drives, and higher market prices. Samsung also said its foundry business improved on growth in HBM base-die sales and broader advanced-node demand, and that it secured order wins centered on 2-nanometer high-performance computing customers, including major hyperscalers.

Net profit was about KRW 75.1 trillion, according to Samsung’s regulatory filing as reported by Yonhap. The company also continued to spend heavily to expand capacity. Third-quarter capital expenditure totaled KRW 29 trillion, including KRW 27.2 trillion in Device Solutions. For the first nine months of 2026, capex reached KRW 56.9 trillion. Samsung said full-year capital spending is expected to total about KRW 84.4 trillion, with KRW 76.8 trillion of that going to the chip division.

Samsung also disclosed a third-quarter cash dividend of KRW 4,601 per common share and KRW 4,601 per preferred share, for a total payout of KRW 30 trillion.

The full results, released Oct. 29, followed preliminary guidance Samsung issued on Oct. 8. They extend a record run rather than marking a one-time jump. In the second quarter of 2026, Samsung had already reported record results of KRW 171.5 trillion in revenue and KRW 89.5 trillion in operating profit.

The latest figures also fit the broader semiconductor boom tied to AI infrastructure spending in 2026. As companies build out servers for artificial intelligence workloads, demand for memory chips and advanced chip manufacturing has surged across the industry, lifting results at major players including Micron and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. For Samsung, the third quarter showed just how concentrated that upswing has become: the chip business delivered nearly all of the company’s profit, while the device business slipped into the red.