Analysts forecast W108.1tr operating profit ahead of Thursday’s guidance, as chip gains offset weakness in consumer electronics
Samsung Electronics is poised to break the 100 trillion won mark in quarterly operating profit for the first time, as booming memory chip sales drive another record quarter.
The company is expected to report third-quarter operating profit of 108.1 trillion won ($80.2 billion), up nearly ninefold from a year earlier, on revenue of 201.7 trillion won, according to brokerage estimates compiled by FnGuide as of Monday. Samsung releases preliminary earnings guidance Thursday.
The forecasts imply revenue growth of 134.4 percent and would eclipse records set just one quarter earlier, when Samsung posted sales of 171.5 trillion won and operating profit of 89.4 trillion won. Its projected profit for the July-September period would also be roughly twice its full-year total for 2025.
An operating profit exceeding 100 trillion won would rank among the largest quarterly totals reported worldwide. Saudi Aramco reported operating profit of $86.5 billion in the second quarter of 2022. Nvidia, a leader in the artificial intelligence chip market, reported in August revenue of $63.7 billion for the fiscal second quarter of 2027.
Samsung's memory chip business is driving the surge in earnings.
Sales of conventional DRAM, including DDR5, and NAND products such as enterprise solid-state drives have underpinned growth, while sales of high-bandwidth memory have risen sharply.
Samsung’s share of the HBM market rose to 33 percent in the second quarter from 21 percent in the first, a gain of 12 percentage points, according to Counterpoint Research. Its share is expected to grow further as its sixth-generation HBM4 chips are slated for use in Nvidia’s new Vera Rubin AI accelerator in the second half of this year.
Samsung’s Device Solutions division, which oversees its semiconductor business, is expected to post a third-quarter operating margin of 72-75 percent, according to industry estimates. Its DRAM business, which includes both HBM and conventional products, could post a margin exceeding 80 percent.
The outlook is weaker for Samsung’s foundry and System LSI -- non-memory semiconductor design -- businesses, as well as its Device Experience division, which is in charge of the company's electronic appliances and mobile devices.
The foundry and System LSI businesses are expected to remain in the red in the third quarter. As for the contract chipmaking business, it has been securing major orders from global tech giants, but those deals are widely expected to take time to translate into revenue. Han Jin-man, president and head of the foundry business, has cited 2028 as the target for a return to profitability.
The DX division, which posted an operating loss of 800 billion won in the second quarter, is also expected to report a wider loss as demand stagnates and costs, including raw materials, rise.
herim@heraldcorp.com
