Samsung Forecasts Record Quarterly Profit as AI Memory Chips Boom

Samsung Electronics on Tuesday forecast an operating profit of about 57.2 trillion won (roughly $38–$40 billion) for the first quarter of 2026 — a single-quarter haul larger than the company’s full-year operating profit in 2025.

The company said in a regulatory filing and press statement that consolidated sales for the quarter are expected to be around 133 trillion won, with operating profit of approximately 57.2 trillion won under Korean International Financial Reporting Standards.

If confirmed in audited results later this month, the figure would mark an increase of about 755 percent from the 6.69 trillion won Samsung posted in the same quarter a year earlier. It would also surpass the company’s previous quarterly record of 20.07 trillion won in the fourth quarter of 2025 and top its full-year 2025 operating profit of 43.6 trillion won.

Drivers of the surge

Although the guidance covers Samsung’s full product mix—smartphones, televisions, home appliances and more—analysts and industry officials attribute the bulk of the swing to the semiconductor business. Tight supply and sharply higher prices for advanced memory chips used in AI data centers have lifted margins for leading suppliers.

Over the past year, cloud providers and large technology firms have raced to secure high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and other advanced DRAM used alongside AI accelerators. Only a small number of manufacturers produce HBM at scale, giving suppliers such as Samsung, SK hynix and Micron unusual pricing power after a prolonged industry downturn.

Samsung said in February that it had begun mass production of its latest high-end memory, HBM4, and shipped commercial products to customers. HBM4 sits close to AI accelerators — such as GPUs — and provides the very high memory bandwidth needed to train and run large AI models.

Market reaction and investor focus

Samsung shares jumped about 4.6 percent in early trading in Seoul after the guidance, while the KOSPI benchmark index rose on strength in chip-related stocks. The guidance is preliminary and unaudited; under Korean rules, the company will publish a detailed breakdown of divisional performance and net profit later in April.

Brokerage estimates cited in South Korean media suggest Samsung’s Device Solutions division — which houses semiconductors — likely accounted for the bulk of the projected profit, though Samsung did not provide segment-level figures in its initial guidance.

Industry context and risks

The guidance underscores how AI spending is reshaping memory economics. Research firms had flagged 2026 as a possible ‘‘supercycle’’ year for memory, as DRAM and NAND flash prices recovered and hyperscale customers locked in supply contracts. For a few companies capable of producing advanced memory at leading-edge process nodes, the result has been a steep improvement in profitability.

Analysts warn, however, that memory is a cyclical business. Past booms prompted heavy capital expenditure that eventually created excess capacity and pressured prices and margins. The current upswing could face similar risks if new production ramps outpace demand growth.

External factors add uncertainty: rising energy costs, geopolitical tensions — including conflicts in the Middle East — and changes in hyperscale customers’ capital spending plans could all affect demand for AI infrastructure and the memory chips that power it.

What to watch when full results arrive

When Samsung releases full first-quarter results, investors and customers will look for:

• A divisional breakdown showing how much of the profit came from semiconductors versus consumer businesses.
• Details on net profit, cash flow and any one-time items affecting the guidance.
• Management’s outlook on pricing sustainability for HBM and advanced DRAM, and the company’s plans and timetable to ramp additional HBM capacity.

Those details will help determine whether this quarter represents the start of a new earnings plateau for the world’s largest memory maker or a peak in another cyclical upswing driven by concentrated AI demand.