Samsung has announced a massive third-quarter profits jump, ripping through Wall Street’s estimates. According to its report, the rise in profits was driven by a recovery in chip demand. Samsung reported 12.2 trillion Korean won in operating profit for Q3, more than double the previous quarter’s figure.
The company also reported that revenue hit 86.1 trillion won, beating the 85.93 trillion forecast from LSEG SmartEstimate. Samsung also crushed its own guidance, which had predicted around 12.1 trillion won. Compared to a year ago, revenue was up 8.85%, and operating profit rose 32.9%. However, the bigger news is the bounce from the June quarter, when Samsung was buried under weak chip demand. Profit surged 160% from Q2. Revenue also climbed 15.5% quarter-over-quarter. After the announcement, Samsung’s shares jumped over 5% in early Asia trading.
Samsung posts profits as chip unit records massive comeback
According to the earnings report, the Device Solutions division (the group handling memory chips, foundry, and logic) of Samsung was behind this surge. The chip division recorded 7 trillion won in operating profit, up from 3.86 trillion won in Q3 last year. Sales for the unit hit 33.1 trillion won, rising from 29.27 trillion won in the same quarter last year. That’s a 19% jump from Q2 alone.
The reason for this surge in profit has been attributed to AI demand. Samsung’s high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, used in AI processing, registered record-high sales. The company said this was the highest quarterly revenue ever for the division. It was a clear comeback from the prior quarter when chips were bleeding. The memory segment alone set an all-time high, fueled by the global race to build AI data centers and large-scale compute.
Samsung had recently fallen behind SK Hynix in HBM chips, losing its edge for the first time. But it reportedly passed Nvidia’s qualification tests for a new generation of advanced HBM chips last month, which would be a key win. According to a report by Counterpoint Research, Samsung also reclaimed the top spot in the memory market in Q3, beating SK Hynix after trailing in Q2.
Meanwhile, Samsung has announced plans to ramp up production of its HBM4 chips as it heads toward 2026. It’s gunning hard for market dominance in the next-gen AI memory war. Samsung’s mobile and network businesses, which handle smartphones, tablets, and wearables, also had a solid quarter. The unit posted 3.6 trillion won in operating profit, up from 2.82 trillion won a year ago.
The company said the boost came from strong sales of its flagship devices, including the newly launched Galaxy Z Fold7. The overall device unit saw both higher sales and higher profits. Samsung forecasted that the rapid growth of the AI industry would open up new market opportunities for both its devices and chip businesses in the current quarter.
