Led by its rebounding chip business, Samsung reported a strong third quarter earnings report with operating profit more than doubling from the subsequent quarter. Q3 revenue was reported by Samsung to be 86.1 trillion Korean won ($60.5 billion), slightly higher than the 85.93 trillion won forecast by analysts followed by LSEG Smart Estimate. That figure was up 8.85% year-over-year. As for Q3 Operating profit, Samsung reported 12.2 trillion won ($8.59 billion) topping estimates of 11.25 trillion won. The 12.2 trillion won in operating profit was up a strong 32.9% from last year's Q3 operating profits.
Samsung's Q3 Operating Profit was sharply higher than the Q2 Operating Profit
Wednesday's report represented a big turnaround from the second quarter which ended in June. That quarter was weighed down by poor results from Samsung's chip business. The just released Q3 Operating Profit was up 160% sequentially compared to the Q2 numbers. Revenue was up 15.5% quarter-over-quarter. A turnaround in Sammy's chip business during the three months from July to September saw the company report a 19% hike in chip sales during the quarter.
Is this a good report for Samsung?
Absolutely!
90.91%
No way!
0%
Hmm. I'm not sure.
9.09%
Samsung could see strong semiconductor sales during the beginning of next year thanks to underlying strength in the semiconductor market. Samsung's press release included the following quote: "In the first half of 2026, we expect the semiconductor market to remain strong, driven by ongoing AI investment momentum."
Profits for Samsung's Device Solutions division soared more than 10-fold sequentially
The company's chip business generated an Operating Profit of 7.0 trillion Korean won ($4.91 billion) in the third quarter, up 81% from the same period last year. It was also a better than tenfold increase in chip-based Operating Profit sequentially. At 33.1 trillion won ($23 billion), division sales were ahead 13% year-over-year. The chip unit, also known as the Device Solutions division, includes memory chips, semiconductor design, and Samsung Foundry,
Samsung returns to the top spot among memory chip suppliers during Q3. | Image credit-Counterpoint
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This certainly sounds like good news for Samsung's Device Solutions business. With the kind of volume that Nvidia is doing, getting a larger slice of that HBM business is sure to be very positive for Samsung. Also noteworthy was another report that showed Samsung's return as the top supplier of memory chips such as DRAM and NAND chips during Q3. During the previous quarter, the company has slipped to second place behind SK Hynix.
The mobile experience and network businesses, the unit that develops, manufactures and sells products like smartphones, tablets, and wearables showed a 28% gain in Operating Profit to 3.6 trillion won ($2.53 billion). Samsung said that the unit benefited from strong sales of flagship smartphones as well as the Galaxy Z Fold 7.
Growth in AI will help both Samsung's chip business, and its devices unit
Looking ahead, Samsung told analysts that strong growth in the AI industry would help create new market opportunities, not only for its chips, but also for its devices. Altogether, it was an encouraging quarter for the company, especially in light of the previous quarter's report.
AI is expected to help Samsung to continue reporting higher quarterly earnings. A company spokesman said during Wednesday's earnings call, "We expect data center companies to continuously expand their hardware investment because of the ongoing competition to secure AI infrastructure. Therefore, our AI-related server demand keeps growing, and this demand significantly exceeds industry supply,"
In Korea on Thursday, Samsung's shares soared 3,000 won ($2.11), or by 3% to 103,500 KRW ($72.92). That's a lot closer to the 52-week high of 105,800 KRW ($74.33) than the 52-week low of 49,900 ($35.06).
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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