Samsung Posts 107.4 Trillion Won Operating Profit; Shares Fall 6.2%
Key Facts
Samsung Electronics reported record consolidated revenue of 195.3 trillion won in the third quarter ended September 30, 2026, up 14% from the previous quarter, while operating profit was 107.4 trillion won. But the shares fell as much as 6.2% in Thursday morning trading after opening higher, according to Reuters. That came despite the company describing memory business performance as record-breaking, as investors focused on its outlook for continued supply shortages and the absence of a new announcement on its shareholder-return policy. Semiconductor profit also remained slightly below analysts’ estimates, despite accounting for most of the group’s earnings. The share price move reflects the market’s focus on the outlook and capital returns alongside quarterly results.
The Device Solutions division, which includes the semiconductor business, posted revenue of 147.1 trillion won and operating profit of 106.5 trillion won in the third quarter, according to a Samsung statement. Reuters said semiconductor profit jumped to 106.5 trillion won, but came in below analysts’ estimate of 107.3 trillion won, according to LSEG. That comparison does not diminish the strength of the performance: the division’s operating profit came close to the company’s total operating profit of 107.4 trillion won. Samsung described memory business revenue and operating profit as the highest quarterly figures in its history. The company attributed the results to managing its product mix while focusing on AI applications amid capacity constraints. It added that strong server demand pushed up market prices across applications.
The share decline did not reflect weakness in memory results. Reuters linked some of the trading pressure to Samsung’s slightly less optimistic outlook than SK Hynix’s on how long the memory shortage would last. An analyst at Morningstar said that was the likely explanation for the shares’ decline after rising at the open. The shares fell as much as 6.2% during morning trading, according to Reuters. At Thursday’s close, Samsung shares were down 4.1%, and the Kospi fell 1.2% to 5,937.66 points, according to the Associated Press. In the same session, SK Hynix shares rose 2.6%, while Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.4%. The divergence placed Samsung’s move within an Asian session in which the two Korean memory companies traded in opposite directions.
Samsung left investors waiting for details of its next shareholder-return policy, saying its board would decide on it in January 2027. The company’s 2026 plan calls for estimated total returns of between 90 and 110 trillion won, including a dividend of 30 trillion won for the third quarter, according to Reuters. The agency also linked the share decline to the absence of a newly announced return plan, while the company has yet to finalize its next policy. Separately, Samsung said it had signed long-term supply contracts with 10 major customers and was in talks with 10 others. The company aims for these agreements to account for between 60% and 70% of its total production capacity by 2030. The contracts offer a longer-term view of supply relationships as the company points to ongoing supply constraints.
Samsung said the chip market is likely to remain tight through 2028, explaining that building new factories “will take time.” In its outlook for 2027, the company forecast that capital spending on AI infrastructure would reach a historic level as the AI ecosystem expands. It also expected AI-driven demand growth to exceed industry supply by a wide margin compared with 2026. Meanwhile, Samsung’s capital expenditure rose to 29 trillion won in the third quarter, up 12.2 trillion from the previous quarter and 19.8 trillion from a year earlier, and the company estimated full-year spending at about 84.4 trillion won. The company expects fourth-quarter memory demand growth to center on products for new CPU and GPU platforms, and expects rising demand for QLC SSD storage to be linked to the expansion of personal AI agent services.