Samsung Electronics this morning published final third-quarter results, confirming what its preliminary forecast had signaled: the most profitable quarter in its history. According to reports, operating profit reached 107.4 trillion won, about 8.8 times the same quarter a year earlier, and the first time the company has topped 100 trillion won in a single quarter.
Chips do all the work
Almost all the profit came from the chip division: revenue of 147.1 trillion won and operating profit of 106.5 trillion won. The rest of Samsung, including smartphones, TVs and home appliances, contributed only a small share. According to the company, sales of HBM4 chips, fast memory used in AI processors from Nvidia and others, grew significantly, and demand for server SSDs remained strong.
The shortage will continue
Samsung joined the view of its rival SK Hynix, which also reported a record quarter, that the memory chip shortage may last through 2027. The reason: the giants are building AI data centers faster than memory makers can keep up. Even so, after the preliminary forecast earlier this month the stock fell, as investors questioned whether high prices would hold.
What it means
Samsung's report is further proof that the money from the AI boom flows mainly to hardware makers: chips, memory and infrastructure. Yesterday Microsoft and Google showed tens of billions of dollars of quarterly spending, and today we see where much of that money goes. Samsung also has a presence in Israel, with R&D centers working on chips and computer vision, among other areas.
