# Samsung Guides to ₩107.4 Trillion Quarterly Profit as Analysts Credit AI Memory

Times of AI Desk · 2026-10-08 · Infrastructure

[https://timesof.ai/2026/10/samsung-q3-2026-guidance-107-trillion-won-hbm4](https://timesof.ai/2026/10/samsung-q3-2026-guidance-107-trillion-won-hbm4)

> Samsung Electronics' preliminary guidance puts July–September 2026 operating profit at about ₩107.4 trillion on sales of about ₩195 trillion, nearly nine times a year earlier. The Korea Times says it is the first time a Korean company has topped ₩100 trillion in a quarter. Samsung gave no division split; analysts estimate memory, including HBM4 for Nvidia's Vera Rubin, earned around ₩110 trillion while the devices unit lost money. Final results are due Oct. 29.

AI memory is now Samsung's profit engine: on analysts' estimates, the memory business alone earned more than the whole group did. **Samsung Electronics** guided on **October 8** (Seoul time) to consolidated operating profit of about **₩107.40 trillion** (about **US$80.28 billion** at The Korea Times' conversion) for July–September 2026, on sales of about **₩195 trillion**. A year earlier the quarter made **₩12.17 trillion**. That is a nearly ninefold jump.

**The Korea Times** says it is the first time a Korean company has topped **₩100 trillion** in quarterly operating profit.

## The guidance

| | Sales | Operating profit |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Q3 2025 | ₩86.06T | ₩12.17T |
| Q2 2026 | ₩171.5T | ₩89.49T |
| **Q3 2026 (guidance)** | **~₩195T** | **~₩107.40T** |

Samsung says Korean disclosure rules require a single headline figure, so these are the midpoints of its estimate ranges: ₩194–196 trillion in sales and ₩107.3–107.5 trillion in operating profit. Per The Korea Times, profit beat the **₩106.64 trillion** consensus while sales missed the **₩200.64 trillion** forecast. Final results, with the division breakdown, are due **October 29**.

## Where the profit came from, per analysts

Samsung's guidance has totals only. Analysts cited by The Korea Times estimate the memory business earned around **₩110 trillion** in operating profit, an estimate above the group total, and say HBM4 shipments for **Nvidia's Vera Rubin** platform are reflected and were the main driver. The **Device Experience** (DX) division, which makes finished products, is expected to post a second straight quarterly operating loss; Meritz Securities estimates **₩2.64 trillion**.

If those estimates hold, the shape is lopsided: high-bandwidth memory and server DRAM for AI accelerators earning more than the group total, with finished devices subtracting from it. Sales also missed consensus even as profit beat it.

## Limits

- The memory and DX figures are analyst estimates, not Samsung's numbers, until the October 29 results.
- Guidance is preliminary and unaudited.
- The won–dollar conversion is The Korea Times'.

## Sources

- [Samsung Newsroom: Samsung Electronics Announces Earnings Guidance for Third Quarter 2026 (October 8, 2026, KST)](https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-electronics-announces-earnings-guidance-for-third-quarter-2026)
- [The Korea Times: Samsung Electronics 1st Korean firm to top $80 bil. in quarterly operating profit (October 8, 2026, KST)](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/business/companies/20261008/samsung-electronics-1st-korean-firm-to-top-80-bil-in-quarterly-operating-profit)