Samsung Electronics expects third-quarter operating profit to reach about 107.4 trillion won ($80.2 billion), roughly nine times the figure reported a year earlier. If confirmed, the result would be the largest quarterly operating profit ever posted by a technology company.

The surge is being driven largely by Samsung's position as one of the biggest suppliers of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a type of memory used alongside AI processors. HBM stacks memory chips into a compact package that sits close to the processor, moving data at the speeds AI workloads require. Demand for HBM has surged well beyond available supply, fueling the company's strong performance.

According to Yahoo Finance, the company expects third-quarter sales of around 195 trillion won ($145.6 billion), a 127% increase from a year earlier, which would place its operating margin at about 55%.

Samsung's quarterly numbers a first

A quarterly operating profit above 100 trillion won would make Samsung the first South Korean company to reach that milestone and would mark the tech giant's fourth consecutive record quarter. The estimate is 782.5% higher than the 12.17 trillion won Samsung reported a year earlier, according to Yahoo Finance.

The figure would also put Samsung well ahead of Nvidia, which recorded $63.7 billion in operating income in the second quarter of 2026.

Samsung's guidance came in just above the 106.1 trillion won analysts had previously expected, based on LSEG data. South Korean companies tend to issue such preliminary figures before full results are published, and investors pay close attention because the estimates are based on internal company data rather than external models.

AI supply chain continues to boom

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has also reported a 54.6% annual increase in September revenue to NT$511.86 billion (about $16 billion), according to Yahoo Finance. The result pushed the chipmaker's estimated third-quarter revenue to a record NT$1.49 trillion ($46.8 billion), surpassing the high end of its own guidance. TSMC is a top chip manufacturer for companies such as Nvidia and Apple.

Taiwan's trade data has likewise underscored the strength of the AI-driven chip boom, with exports rising 60.9% from a year earlier to a record $87.2 billion in September.

Investors still took money off the table

Samsung shares closed 2.42% lower at 262,000 won in Seoul on Thursday as traders booked profits and questioned how long the memory cycle can continue to hold, while the broader KOSPI index fell 2.62%. Even so, the stock has nearly quadrupled over the past year.

Spending behind the AI expansion shows no signs of slowing. Google, Amazon and Meta have all pledged over $650 billion toward AI interests this year alone, according to the BBC, while South Korea announced at least $880 billion in chip investments in June, led by Samsung and SK Hynix.

Samsung did not provide a breakdown by division and is due to release its full third-quarter results on October 29, a report expected to include the divisional detail that the preliminary estimate left out. Its smartphone business is also expected to have benefited from the Galaxy Fold and S26, which launched in August.