January 9, 2026
SEOUL – Samsung Electronics on Thursday forecast its highest-ever quarterly operating profit, projecting strong gains for the October–December period of 2025, as a global memory chip supercycle lifted prices and earnings across the semiconductor industry.
In its earnings guidance, the tech giant said fourth-quarter operating profit is expected to reach 20 trillion won ($13.8 billion), up 208.17 percent from a year earlier. Revenue is projected to rise 22.71 percent on-year to 93 trillion won.
The estimate marks the largest quarterly operating profit ever posted by a Korean company, surpassing Samsung’s previous record of 17.5 trillion won set in the third quarter of 2018. The figure also came in above market expectations.
According to a consensus compiled by Yonhap Infomax based on earnings forecasts from 17 brokerages over the past month, Samsung was expected to post 92.5 trillion won in revenue and 19.65 trillion won in operating profit, implying growth of 22.1 percent and 202.6 percent, respectively.
For the full year, Samsung projected annual revenue of 332.7 trillion won, exceeding its previous record of 302.2 trillion won set in 2022.
While Samsung did not provide a detailed breakdown by division, analysts widely agree that the company’s memory semiconductor business was the primary driver of the record performance, supported by steady earnings from smartphones launched in the first half of 2025.
Market estimates put operating profit from the device solutions division, which oversees semiconductors, at 16 trillion to 17 trillion won in the fourth quarter — a sharp increase from around 7 trillion won in the previous quarter.
Operating profit from the mobile experience division, responsible for smartphones and mobile devices, is estimated at around 2 trillion won, while the display business is expected to contribute about 1 trillion won. Harman, Samsung’s automotive electronics unit, is projected to post roughly 500 billion won in operating profit.
By contrast, the TV and home appliance division is expected to post an operating loss of about 100 billion won, reflecting continued pressure from weak consumer demand and intensifying competition.
The sharp improvement in earnings was fueled by a rapid rise in global memory prices. As major chipmakers, including memory No. 1 Samsung, shifted production capacity toward advanced memory modules for artificial intelligence, such as high-bandwidth memory, supplies of general-purpose memory tightened, pushing prices higher.
According to Counterpoint Research, the average selling price of DRAM chips jumped by more than 30 percent on-quarter, while NAND flash prices rose about 20 percent. The research firm forecasts that prices for general-purpose DRAM will climb an additional 40 percent in the first quarter and 50 percent in the second quarter of this year.
With the world’s largest memory chip production capacity, Samsung is positioned to benefit further from the price rally. The company ranked first in the global NAND flash market in the third quarter of last year with a 32 percent market share. In DRAM, it narrowed the gap with rival SK hynix to roughly a single percentage point, raising expectations that Samsung could reclaim the top spot this year.
Samsung has also overhauled its previously underperforming HBM business and is expected to raise its share of the global HBM market to around 30 percent this year. KB Securities said Samsung is likely to receive final quality approval for its next-generation HBM4 products from major clients including Nvidia and Google in the first quarter, with shipments set to ramp up from the second quarter.
Reflecting optimism surrounding the chip upcycle, Samsung shares hit a fresh 52-week high of 144,500 won during intraday trading. Shares had later eased to close at 138,000 won. SK hynix also touched a new yearly peak of 788,000 won, then retreated to finish at 756,000 won
Samsung is scheduled to release its finalized annual earnings, including detailed divisional results, on Jan. 29.