Samsung guides to record third-quarter profit amid AI-memory demand

Samsung Electronics expects approximately 107.4 trillion won in consolidated operating profit for the third quarter of 2026, a preliminary figure that would set a company record.

The October 8 guidance put operating profit in a range of 107.3 trillion won to 107.5 trillion won, with sales between 194 trillion won and 196 trillion won. At the midpoints, those figures compare with 12.17 trillion won in operating profit and 86.06 trillion won in sales a year earlier, implying operating-profit growth of about 782.5%.

Samsung said it prepared the estimate under Korean International Financial Reporting Standards before completion of an external audit. The release did not break out contributions from individual businesses, including memory, foundry, mobile and displays, so the guidance is not a final divisional result.

Independent reporting attributed the increase to demand for memory used in AI systems and tight supplies of DRAM and NAND chips, which have pushed memory prices higher. High-bandwidth memory, or HBM, is designed to process large volumes of data for AI applications. Samsung’s preliminary release did not itself attribute the profit increase to AI-memory demand.

The earnings checkpoint comes alongside a separate AI infrastructure investment by Samsung affiliates. That investment is not part of the third-quarter guidance.

The July-to-September estimate covers a new reporting period, not an update to DataPhoenix’s earlier coverage of Samsung’s second-quarter guidance. That earlier estimate covered April to June and put operating profit at about 89.4 trillion won, compared with approximately 107.4 trillion won in the new third-quarter guidance.

Samsung’s earnings-release schedule says the company will publish full third-quarter results on October 29, with an earnings call beginning at 10 a.m. Korea Standard Time. The detailed release is expected to provide the business-division breakdown missing from the preliminary guidance.