Samsung Electronics expects the biggest quarterly profit any technology company has ever posted. In preliminary guidance released on Thursday, the world's largest memory chipmaker put operating profit for the July–September quarter at 107.4 trillion won, about $80.2 billion — up 782.5% from 12.17 trillion won a year earlier, and the first time the company has crossed the 100 trillion won mark. Revenue guidance of roughly 195 trillion won, a 127% year-on-year jump, also beat expectations; the LSEG SmartEstimate for operating profit had been 106.1 trillion won.

Almost all of the gain traces back to memory. The AI build-out has turned high-bandwidth memory and ordinary server DRAM into scarce commodities, and prices keep climbing: contract prices for conventional DRAM are projected to rise another 10% to 15% quarter on quarter, according to Nikkei Asia. It is Samsung's fourth consecutive record operating quarter, and Channel News Asia notes it is the highest quarterly profit reported by any technology company.

There is a caveat. Several analysts expect Samsung's chip margin to stay roughly flat rather than expand, as higher input costs and ramp-up spending absorb part of the price gains. The preliminary filing carries no divisional breakdown, and full audited results are due later this month.

The squeeze is already arriving on store shelves. Reporting on the same shortage this week, this wire noted DDR5 memory prices up 414% and Google's Pixel 10a repriced to $599, with Micron projecting tight RAM supply through 2028. Samsung's record quarter is the supply side of that same story: for anyone buying memory — or the devices built from it — cheaper silicon is not coming back soon.

Sources