Samsung Electronics has projected a record quarterly operating profit of 107.4 trillion won ($80.2 billion) for the third quarter, driven by strong demand for memory chips used in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The forecast, released on Thursday, represents an almost nine-fold increase from the company’s operating profit a year earlier, according to Reuters.
It is also slightly above the 106.1 trillion won average estimate from LSEG SmartEstimate and would mark Samsung’s fourth consecutive quarter of record operating profit.
Samsung expects third-quarter revenue to rise 127 per cent year-on-year to 195 trillion won, supported largely by its semiconductor business.
The company’s memory chip division is benefiting from tight supplies of conventional DRAM and NAND chips, alongside rising demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is critical for processing the large volumes of data required by AI applications.
The strong AI-driven demand has pushed memory chip prices higher as semiconductor manufacturers struggle to keep pace with demand.
Samsung and rival Micron expect the global memory supply imbalance to persist through 2028, although increased competition from Chinese chipmakers and a potential slowdown in AI spending could weigh on the sector’s longer-term outlook.
Market research firm TrendForce expects conventional DRAM contract prices to increase by 10 per cent to 15 per cent in the fourth quarter from the preceding quarter. This would represent a moderation from the roughly 60 per cent increase recorded in the second quarter.
Despite the earnings outlook, Samsung shares were down 0.2 per cent in early trading, compared with a 0.5 per cent decline in South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index.
The company’s shares have fallen more than 25 per cent from their record high in June as investors assess the sustainability of the AI-driven semiconductor boom.
Analysts expect Samsung’s fourth-quarter profit to rise 8.2 per cent from the third quarter, significantly slower than the expected 20 per cent sequential growth in the third quarter as memory chip price growth moderates.
The appreciation of the South Korean won has also prompted analysts to trim some earnings forecasts, as a stronger currency reduces the value of Samsung’s dollar-denominated overseas sales when converted into won.
Samsung is expected to release its detailed third-quarter results, including earnings by business division, on October 29.