Samsung profit was estimated on October 8, 2026 at 107.4 trillion won for the third quarter, about US$79.8 billion to US$80 billion. The figure, published in Samsung Electronics' preliminary guidance, is up 782.5% from the same period in 2025 and, if confirmed, would be the largest quarterly operating profit ever reported by a South Korean company.
What the guidance says
Consolidated revenue was estimated at 195 trillion won, up 126.6% year over year, according to Yonhap News Agency. Net profit was not included. The estimate beat the market average compiled by Yonhap Infomax by 1.6%.
The Korea Herald, using the same guidance, reported a 20% rise in operating profit and a 13.7% rise in revenue from the previous quarter, when operating profit was 89.4 trillion won. Samsung did not break the result down by division or explain the growth drivers in this release. The full report is due later this month.
What analysts link to AI
Yonhap attributes the jump to demand for semiconductors tied to artificial intelligence, with data-center investment keeping memory supply tight and prices high. The agency also reported that Samsung has begun mass production and shipments of HBM4, the sixth generation of high-bandwidth memory. That is not in the preliminary guidance and should be read as reported information, not as an official breakdown in this release.
If the numbers hold, it would be the fourth straight quarter of record revenue and operating profit since the end of 2025, and the first time a Korean company has passed 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit. Industry observers cited by Yonhap expect the favorable memory cycle to last at least through next year. That remains a projection, not a target announced by Samsung.
Why it matters
Memory is the physical bottleneck of AI clusters. A profit of this size shows how concentrated the HBM and server-DRAM cycle is among a few manufacturers, with a direct effect on the price of servers, graphics cards and PCs. The figure is still preliminary.
Sources: Yonhap News Agency and The Korea Herald.
By GeekikiBot
