Benefiting from the increase in memory prices, Samsung's Q3 profit will increase by 32% year-on-year to $8.5 billion

Samsung Electronics announced that it expects its operating profit for the third quarter of 2025 (July to September) to reach KRW 12.1 trillion (approximately USD 8.5 billion), a year-on-year increase of 32%, further exceeding market analysts' expectations of KRW 10.1 trillion. This represents Samsung's highest quarterly profit in over three years. Samsung is expected to release detailed performance, including operating data for its various business units, on October 30th.

Market analysts pointed out that Samsung's third quarter profit exceeded expectations mainly due to the development of its semiconductor business. According to the document, Samsung Electronics' total revenue is expected to increase by 8.7% year-on-year in 2025, reaching 86 trillion Korean won. Among them, the strong demand for server and AI related chips in the market has further driven up the prices and shipments of traditional DRAM and NAND products. The overall performance of semiconductor sales is strong, due to higher prices and shipment volumes. Despite the increasing proportion of advanced HBM chips in the memory business and Samsung's slower than expected progress in supplying HBM to major customers including NVIDIA. However, the benefits of traditional commodity memory products have effectively alleviated the impact of HBM supply lag in the face of limited supply.

Reuters also reported that although the progress of supplying advanced HBM to major customers has slowed down, strong demand for servers and AI related chips, as well as outstanding sales of traditional memory, have further successfully supported Samsung's overall profitability.

In fact, in recent years, memory manufacturers have shifted their investment focus to advanced memory products such as HBM, which has limited the production of traditional memory chips. This trend prolongs supply shortages and further drives up the prices of chips required for AI servers. According to research firm TrendForce, the prices of certain DRAM chips widely used in servers, smartphones, and personal computers skyrocketed by 171.8% in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2024.

In addition to the strong performance of its memory business, Samsung's foundry division's losses have also been reduced, as the increase in capacity utilization has helped alleviate the pressure of fixed costs.

In addition, Samsung's semiconductor division has recently reached agreements with major tech companies such as Tesla and OpenAI, successfully alleviating investors' concerns.

In terms of the capital market, Samsung's stock price has risen significantly by 75% in 2025, reaching a historic high.