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Samsung Q3 Profit Expected to Surge Nine-Fold Driven by Strong AI Demand
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News18•07-10-2026, 08:23
Samsung Q3 Profit Expected to Surge Nine-Fold Driven by Strong AI Demand
- •Samsung Electronics is projected to report a nearly nine-fold increase in third-quarter operating profit to 106.1 trillion won, marking its fourth consecutive quarter of record earnings.
- •The impressive growth is driven by robust AI demand and a prolonged memory shortage, although analysts have cut forecasts by nearly 8% since August due to slowing price increases.
- •Chip margins may have peaked as the pace of memory price hikes slows down, and long-term supply deals limit extreme price gains to protect consumer electronics demand.
- •Samsung faces additional headwinds from a strengthening South Korean won and rising competition from Chinese rivals adopting lower-end DRAM and NAND alternatives.
- •Samsung is expanding shipments of its latest high-bandwidth memory chips to narrow the gap with market leader SK Hynix, with its market share expected to reach 34%.
Key Questions Answered
Samsung Electronics is expected to post an operating profit of 106.1 trillion won ($79.1 billion) for the July-September quarter, driven by robust artificial intelligence demand that has outstripped supply growth.
Long-term supply deals with built-in ceiling-price mechanisms have limited price gains to guarantee supply, while a 14.3% strengthening of the South Korean won against the dollar in Q3 has created a headwind by reducing the value of repatriated overseas earnings.
J.P. Morgan estimates Samsung's HBM market share will rise to 34% this year from 20% last year, while its memory-chip operating profit margin is expected to reach 76% in the third quarter, remaining flat with the previous quarter.
