Samsung Electronics has confirmed a record third-quarter operating profit of 107.44 trillion won, about $80.5 billion (roughly Sh10.4 trillion), as the race to build artificial intelligence data centres continues to drive up demand and prices for memory chips.

The figure, released on Thursday, matched the preliminary estimate the company gave earlier this month and makes Samsung the first South Korean company to cross 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit, according to SiliconANGLE. Operating profit rose more than 780% from a year earlier, while revenue more than doubled, up 127% to 195.25 trillion won. Net profit rose 515% to 75.15 trillion won.

Memory chips do the heavy lifting

Almost all of the profit came from the Device Solutions division, which houses the chip business. It made 106.5 trillion won in operating profit on 147.1 trillion won in revenue, meaning chips accounted for about 99% of the group's operating profit.

Samsung said its memory business set records for both revenue and profit, helped by a sharp increase in sales of HBM4, the high-bandwidth memory used alongside AI processors, and growing demand for server solid-state drives. Heavy spending on AI infrastructure by the world's biggest cloud companies has led to global shortages of memory chips.

The results came a day after rival SK hynix reported strong numbers and warned that the memory shortage would deepen in 2027. Samsung said it expects memory demand to keep growing in the fourth quarter.

Smartphones hurt by costlier chips

The boom has a downside. The MX and Networks division, which makes Samsung's Galaxy phones, posted an operating loss of 0.6 trillion won on sales of 37.7 trillion won. Rising memory costs have pushed up the prices of many handsets this year.

The company said it hopes the fourth quarter, traditionally the busiest season for phone sales, will bring a recovery, led by the Galaxy S26 series and its new foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Z Fold8 Ultra.

Other highlights:

  • The display business made 1.1 trillion won in operating profit on 8 trillion won in revenue.
  • The board approved a third-quarter dividend of 30 trillion won, about 4,601 won per share.

Investors unmoved

Despite the record, Samsung shares fell in Seoul. CNBC reported that the stock closed 4.13% lower on Thursday, with the profit broadly in line with what analysts had expected after the company's early October guidance.

The results come a day after Alphabet shares fell sharply over the cost of its AI spending, a reminder that investors are watching closely who profits from the AI build-out and who pays for it. For now, chipmakers selling the memory that powers AI systems are among the clear winners.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons/John McMaster (CC BY 4.0); Wikimedia Commons/Jakub CA (CC BY 4.0). Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.