Samsung forecasts record $80 billion operating profit on AI memory

Samsung’s preliminary estimate puts third-quarter operating profit at about 107.4 trillion won, or just over $80 billion—the first time it has cleared 100 trillion won in a quarter and roughly nine times the level a year earlier. It also expects revenue of about 195 trillion won, up about 127%. The surge reflects a basic pressure point in the AI buildout: data centers need vast quantities of high-performance memory to feed data quickly to AI processors, and tight supplies have given memory makers unusual pricing power. These are preliminary figures rather than Samsung’s full accounts, so the detailed breakdown of which businesses produced the profit will come later.