Skip to content
Tech News
← Back to articles

Samsung profit surges over eightfold to beat estimates as AI boom fuels memory chip crunch

read original get Samsung 980 PRO SSD → more articles
Why This Matters

Samsung's record-breaking profits are driven by a surge in its memory chip business, fueled by the global AI data center boom. This highlights the increasing importance of advanced semiconductor technology in supporting AI infrastructure and the broader tech ecosystem. For consumers and industry players, this underscores the growing reliance on high-performance memory chips and the potential for continued innovation and supply constraints in the semiconductor market.

Key Takeaways

Close-up of logo for Samsung on research building in the Silicon Valley, Mountain View, California, October 28, 2018.

Samsung Electronics reported an over eightfold increase in first-quarter operating profits on Thursday, hitting a new record and beating analysts' estimates on the explosive growth of its chip business.

Here are Samsung's first-quarter results compared with LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate:

Revenue: 133.9 trillion Korean won ($89.96 billion) vs. 132.69 trillion won expected

Operating profit: 57.2 trillion won vs. 55.28 trillion won expected

The South Korean technology giant's quarterly profit climbed more than 750% from a year earlier to a fresh record. The company also posted record revenue, up about 70% year over year.

The profits came in line with Samsung's own estimates of 57.2 trillion won and exceeded its full-year 2025 profits of 43.6 trillion won.

The earnings extend momentum from the final quarter of last year, when Samsung surpassed its prior record of 17.6 trillion won set in the third quarter of 2018.

Samsung's record earnings came on the strength of its chip business. Besides its smartphone business and semiconductor foundry services, the firm is a major producer of memory chips.

The firm's chip business has emerged as a major beneficiary of the global AI data center boom, which has constrained supply and driven up prices of memory chips used in data centers and electronics such as smartphones, PCs and game consoles.

... continue reading