Samsung's Q3 Profit Surges Nearly Ninefold on Record AI Chip Demand

Samsung Electronics is projected to post an operating profit of roughly 106–111 billion won ($79–83 billion) for the third quarter of 2026, representing a nearly nine-fold surge from the same period last year—driven by explosive global demand for memory chips powering artificial intelligence infrastructure. The dramatic profit jump underscores how intensely AI adoption is reshaping the semiconductor industry. Data centers and AI training systems require enormous quantities of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to function, and supply has not kept pace with demand, creating a prolonged shortage that Samsung and fellow chipmaker SK Hynix are capitalizing on.