New to this? Read it in simple words
- Samsung made a record profit, almost all of it from chips.
- It says all the special AI memory it can make in 2027 is already sold.
- It will spend a record amount on new factories this year.
- When AI buys up memory, phones and computers can get more expensive.
- HBM
- High-bandwidth memory, a fast kind of memory chip stacked next to AI processors.
- Operating profit
- Money a company earns from its business before interest and taxes.
- Dividend
- Money a company pays to the people who own its shares.
On October 8, Samsung gave early estimates for its third quarter. On October 29, it confirmed them, gave details for each business and held a call with investors.
A record quarter, mostly from chips
Samsung’s revenue was a record 195.3 trillion won, up 127% from a year earlier. Operating profit reached 107.4 trillion won, up 783%.
Samsung says it is the first tech company to pass 100 trillion won of operating profit in one quarter. Its chip division made 106.5 trillion won of that.
The results were slightly below what analysts expected, Yonhap reports, and the shares fell sharply on Thursday morning.
Figures from Samsung’s results of October 29; the HBM and deal lines are from its earnings call.
Next year’s memory is booked
“Negotiations for our 2027 HBM supply have been completed,” Samsung said on its call, as The Korea Herald reports. Customers keep asking for more, according to The Asia Business Daily.
Samsung says sales of HBM4, its newest high-bandwidth memory, more than tripled from the previous quarter. HBM4 is now about 60% of its HBM sales, the company says.
Samsung has signed long-term memory deals with 10 large customers and is talking with 10 more, it told investors.
Record spending, and the shareholders
Samsung expects to spend about 84.4 trillion won on factories and equipment in 2026, about $63 billion. That is 31.7 trillion won more than last year, a rise of about 60%.
The company will pay a dividend of 30 trillion won for the quarter. It will set its next plan for returning money to shareholders at a board meeting in late January 2027.
Sources
Every fact in this story comes from the sources below. Open them to check our work.
- 1
- 2Research · October 29, 2026Samsung roars back in AI chip race with record W107tr profit The Korea Herald
- 3Research · October 29, 2026Samsung Electronics: “HBM4 Revenue More Than Triples, Next Year’s Supply Sold Out... Record 84.4 Trillion Won in CAPEX” The Asia Business Daily
- 4Research · October 29, 2026Strong memory business powers Samsung to record third-quarter profit IANS, via Telangana Today
The results come from Samsung’s release. The sold-out supply, the HBM4 growth and the 10 deals were said on the earnings call, and two Korean outlets translate the quotes slightly differently.
Samsung says its 2027 HBM supply is already sold out. Silicon AI News, October 29, 2026. https://siliconainews.com/stories/samsung-q3-2026-hbm-2027-sold-out
Samsung posted a record 107.4 trillion won quarterly profit and sold out its 2027 AI memory, despite slightly missing analysts’ forecasts. How we rate the mood
The mood shows how the news frames the event for the tech and AI world: as an opportunity (6 and above) or as a loss (below 5). It is not our verdict on who is right.