Samsung posts record quarterly operating profit of 107.4 trillion won on memory boom
Key Facts
Samsung Electronics posted a record operating profit of 107.4 trillion won in the third quarter ended September 30, 2026, confirming the final figure matched its preliminary estimate. That compares with operating profit of 12.2 trillion won in the year-earlier period, Reuters reported. The company posted a record operating profit of 89.5 trillion won in the second quarter, according to the Associated Press. Third-quarter net profit was 75.1 trillion won, compared with 12.2 trillion won a year earlier, according to Investing.com. The figures highlight the results’ reliance on the semiconductor cycle and demand tied to AI infrastructure.
Samsung attributed its strong results to a boom in demand for AI infrastructure, with memory sales rising 427% year on year to 140.7 trillion won in the third quarter, according to Investing.com. The company expanded sales of high-bandwidth memory products, including HBM4, as well as SSD chips designed for servers. This reflects the expansion of memory activity alongside the needs of servers and data centers, in parallel with rising demand for processors and storage. Samsung expects AI investments to continue supporting memory demand in the fourth quarter. It identified products used with new CPU and GPU platforms as among the sources of that demand, according to Investing.com.
Spending tied to expanding production capacity also drove capital expenditure, which reached 29 trillion won in the third quarter, according to Investing.com. That was 12.2 trillion won higher than the previous quarter and 19.8 trillion won above the year-earlier period. Cumulative capital expenditure in the first nine months of 2026 reached about 56.9 trillion won. On distributions, Samsung declared a cash dividend of 4,601 won per common share and per preferred share for the third quarter. Total dividends amounted to 30 trillion won, according to a statement from Samsung Semiconductor Global Newsroom.
The company expects full-year 2026 capital expenditure to reach about 84.4 trillion won, including 76.8 trillion won for its Device Solutions division, according to its statement. That guidance puts the division’s spending at most of the expected annual total, as the memory demand boom drives investment in production infrastructure. The company’s outlook for next year points to faster investment in AI infrastructure during 2027. Samsung expects the memory supply shortage to worsen compared with 2026, according to Investing.com. The company said investment in AI infrastructure would accelerate and supply constraints would increase, signaling continued demand pressure on the sector.