Samsung posts record profit as AI memory demand surges

Samsung Electronics reported an operating profit of 107.44 trillion won ($80.5 billion) in the third quarter, a new world record for quarterly profit in the technology industry. Revenue rose 127 percent from a year earlier to 195.25 trillion won. The profit was about nine times higher than a year earlier, and it made Samsung the first South Korean company in any industry to cross 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit.

Semiconductor sales drive profit

Demand from hyperscalers building AI data centres has created a global shortage and pushed prices higher. The contract chipmaking arm also benefited from sales of the base chips used in HBM.

Samsung’s Device Solutions unit, which includes its semiconductor business, generated 147.1 trillion won in revenue and 106.5 trillion won in operating profit. Its Mobile and Networks division posted a 0.6 trillion-won loss on 37.7 trillion won in sales, which the company linked partly to rising chip costs that raised handset prices. The display unit delivered 8 trillion won in revenue and 1.1 trillion won in profit.

To meet demand, Samsung invested 29 trillion won in new plants and equipment during the quarter and plans to spend about 84.4 trillion won for the year. It also declared a 30 trillion-won cash dividend, roughly 4,601 won per share, and announced a partnership with French AI model maker Mistral AI to embed AI in semiconductor design and manufacturing. Samsung’s stock rose 2% early in South Korean trading, and the company expects memory sales to keep growing in the fourth quarter as new CPU and GPU platforms roll out.