Samsung Reports Record $80 Billion Quarterly Profit, Falls Slightly Short of Sky-High AI Expectations

Samsung Electronics announced a preliminary operating profit of 107.4 trillion won ($80.2 billion) for the third quarter, marking a historic record and a nearly ninefold year-over-year surge—yet still falling modestly short of elevated analyst expectations fueled by relentless AI infrastructure investment. The South Korean chip giant reported consolidated sales of 195 trillion won, a 127 percent jump from the year-ago quarter, driven overwhelmingly by surging demand for memory chips powering AI data centers. Operating profit surged 782 percent from 12.17 trillion won in the prior-year period, representing the company's fourth consecutive quarter of record earnings and the first time Samsung's quarterly operating profit exceeded 100 trillion won.