Samsung Estimates Record $80.2 Billion Quarterly Profit as AI Memory Demand Surges

Samsung Electronics estimates that its third-quarter operating profit reached 107.4 trillion won ($80.2 billion), crossing 100 trillion won for the first time. The preliminary earnings put a record financial result behind surging demand for memory used in AI infrastructure, which CNBC identified as a driver of the company’s chips business.

Operating profit rose 782% from a year earlier, while revenue increased nearly 127% to about 195 trillion won. Both measures climbed sharply, but the profit increase was substantially larger. These are preliminary figures for the completed third quarter, rather than targets for a future reporting period. The annual growth rates compare the latest estimates with the same quarter last year.

A record follows another record

The annual comparison captures only one part of the result. Samsung had already set records in the second quarter, with revenue of 171.5 trillion won and operating profit of 89.5 trillion won. Its memory business drove that quarter’s performance, according to CNBC. That provides a more recent benchmark for the latest estimates.

Those increases measure the step up from one quarter to the next, rather than the much larger change against the same period last year. The two comparisons answer different questions: how far Samsung has moved over a year, and how much it added after its previous record quarter.

AI-memory demand, company-wide earnings

CNBC linked the record result to booming AI-driven demand for memory chips used in AI infrastructure. The profit and revenue estimates cover Samsung Electronics overall, not a separately disclosed AI or memory-business total. Samsung is expected to publish its full third-quarter earnings later in October, including a breakdown by business division. That disclosure will provide a more detailed view of how the company’s businesses contributed to the headline figures.