Samsung Electronics reported a preliminary nine-fold surge in quarterly operating profit to 107.4 trillion won ($80 billion) for the three months ending in September, driven by soaring demand for memory chips used in AI data centers. The figure marks the company’s fourth consecutive quarter of record earnings and exceeds analyst estimates of 106.1 trillion won, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group .
The South Korean tech giant, the world’s largest memory chip maker, attributed the growth to a global boom in AI-related data center construction, which has outstripped supply for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips as well as conventional DRAM and NAND components. Samsung stated that supply constraints may persist until at least 2027, allowing the company to command higher prices amid limited production capacity .
The company also projected revenue of 195 trillion won ($130 billion) for the quarter, a 127% year-on-year increase, surpassing analyst forecasts of 199.6 trillion won. Samsung’s preliminary results follow a broader industry trend, with rivals SK Hynix and Micron also benefiting from AI-driven chip demand .
The full third-quarter earnings report is expected at the end of October. Samsung’s stock market valuation surpassed $1 trillion earlier this year amid the AI chip surge, with major tech firms like Google, Amazon, and Meta pledging over $650 billion in AI investments in 2026 .
