Samsung Electronics on October 8, 2026, issued its preliminary earnings guidance for the third quarter. The company expects operating profit for July–September of about 107.4 trillion won (~$80.17 billion) — nearly nine times the 12.17 trillion won it earned in the same quarter last year. If confirmed, Samsung would become the first technology company in history with quarterly profit above 100 trillion won. The company credits the figure to surging demand for artificial intelligence chips and strong memory sales. The announced numbers are unprecedented not only for the company itself, but for the global technology industry as a whole.
A record quarter: the key numbers
Under Samsung's official earnings guidance, consolidated revenue for Q3 2026 is expected at about 195 trillion won, with operating profit in a range of 107.3–107.5 trillion won — roughly 107.40 trillion won. In the same period last year, the company earned 12.17 trillion won in operating profit, so this forecast is nearly nine times higher. Revenue is projected to grow about 127% year on year to 195 trillion won. A jump this sharp in both revenue and profit within a single year is rare among large technology companies.
Citing company data, Reuters reports that if the figures are confirmed, Samsung will be the first technology company in the world to cross the 100-trillion-won quarterly profit threshold. No tech giant has ever earned this much in a single quarter. For comparison: last year's 12.17 trillion won was considered a strong result at the time, yet the current forecast leaves it nearly nine times behind.
Notably, the operating profit range in the guidance — 107.3 to 107.5 trillion won — is extremely narrow. That suggests the company can assess its own financial results with considerable precision. Expected consolidated revenue of around 195 trillion won also shows the company recording steady growth across all business lines.
A fourth consecutive record
The current guidance marks Samsung's fourth consecutive record quarter. The company has already posted one historical high after another over the previous three quarters, and the trend is continuing. Such a run of consistent growth is a rare phenomenon in the global technology market: typically, after one or two strong quarters growth decelerates, but at Samsung each new quarter has outdone the last.
Four record quarters in a row point to a structural shift in the company's business. Where Samsung's profit once depended more heavily on smartphone and consumer electronics sales, semiconductors and the memory business are now its main driver. This is the segment benefiting most from the global wave of demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure.
According to initial analyst estimates, the bulk of the record profit falls on the memory business. The semiconductor division, especially the DRAM and NAND segments, is providing the largest share of the company's revenue. This is seen as the payoff of Samsung's strategy of recent years, which has been oriented toward AI infrastructure. The company's investments in expanding memory production capacity are now paying off in full.
AI demand and a memory market shortage
The main driver of the record figures is the unprecedented growth in demand for artificial intelligence chips. According to Reuters, supply on the DRAM and NAND memory markets has tightened sharply, while demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) needed for AI applications keeps rising. With demand far outstripping supply, memory prices remain high, sharply boosting manufacturers' profits.
What makes the situation unusual is that the shortage covers several segments at once. Supply is constrained on the traditional DRAM and NAND markets, while demand for specialized HBM chips for AI systems is growing at a particularly fast pace. As a result, manufacturers are operating in favorable conditions on both volume and price: products are selling out almost completely and prices are holding at high levels.
Samsung and Micron estimate the supply-demand imbalance could last until 2028. That means the memory market will remain favorable for manufacturers for at least another year and a half. The memory market is usually cyclical: after demand growth, manufacturers expand capacity and prices fall. But this time demand for AI infrastructure is so strong that even added capacity cannot keep up.
"The guidance marks Samsung's fourth consecutive record quarter on AI chip demand and strong memory sales; Samsung and Micron expect the supply-demand imbalance to persist until 2028" — Reuters
As noted in the Reuters quote above, the guidance marks Samsung's fourth consecutive record quarter, achieved on AI chip demand and strong memory sales. The quote stresses that Samsung and Micron expect the supply-demand imbalance to continue until 2028. The two large manufacturers reaching the same conclusion signals an established market consensus.
HBM: the main fuel of artificial intelligence
High-bandwidth memory — HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) — has become an integral part of modern artificial intelligence systems. Training and running large language models and generative AI systems requires enormous amounts of fast memory, and HBM chips meet exactly that need. According to Reuters, analysts note that demand for the HBM needed for AI applications keeps growing.
Samsung is one of the leading players in the HBM market, and its strong position in this segment lets the company benefit maximally from the AI chip boom. That the memory business provides the largest share of Samsung's total profit is explained by this very factor: shortages in the traditional DRAM and NAND segments keep prices high, while demand in HBM serves as an additional source of growth.
The growth in HBM demand is no accident: AI models keep getting larger, and the computing power needed to train them is rising in proportion. Each new generation of AI chips demands more memory bandwidth than the last. That is why HBM manufacturers are now operating with an eye not only on current demand but on growth in the coming years. This long-term outlook underpins Samsung's and Micron's forecast of an imbalance lasting until 2028.
Shares and analyst views
Despite the record guidance, Samsung shares slipped 0.2% in early trading on the Seoul exchange. Market participants attribute the reaction to the strong forecast already being priced in — investors had been expecting a record result, so the official announcement was no surprise. This happens frequently on financial markets: when a strong result was expected in advance, shares may dip slightly after the announcement instead of rising.
A better-than-expected result usually lifts shares, but this time the market appears to have already priced in high expectations.
Still, the slight decline shows investor attention has shifted to whether growth momentum can be sustained in coming quarters. The key question for the market is whether Samsung can post a fifth record quarter and how the favorable environment expected to last until 2028 will affect company profit. Answers may partly become clear in the detailed report on October 29.
Detailed report on October 29
Samsung said it will publish a detailed, segment-by-segment breakdown of quarterly results on October 29. The preliminary guidance gives only total sales and operating profit — the contribution of each business line has not yet been disclosed. The full report at the end of October will clarify the individual shares of the memory, semiconductor and other businesses.
Analysts particularly expect the October 29 report to add information on memory business margins and future plans in HBM. Detailed management commentary on the supply-demand imbalance expected to last until 2028 will also matter for the market. The preliminary guidance gives only the big picture — the full report will show which segments are driving growth. Investors will be most interested in the standalone indicators of the semiconductor division, seen as the main source of the records of recent quarters. Market estimates may be updated once the report is out. Samsung's official guidance text was published in the company's newsroom, with exact sales and profit ranges.
