Samsung posts a record 107.4 trillion won quarterly operating profit and says its 2027 HBM supply is sold out

A record quarter

Samsung Electronics reported third-quarter consolidated revenue of 195.3 trillion won on Oct. 29. That is up 14% from the previous quarter and another quarterly record for the company; at the rate of about 1,335 won per dollar that Tech Times uses, it comes to about $146 billion. Operating profit was 107.4 trillion won (about $80.5 billion). Samsung says it is the world’s first tech company to exceed 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit. According to CNBC’s calculation, revenue rose 126.9% from a year earlier and operating profit 783.1%.

Nearly all of the profit came from the chip business. The Device Solutions (DS) division reported revenue of 147.1 trillion won and operating profit of 106.5 trillion won. Memory set records for quarterly revenue and operating profit, which the company attributes to significantly higher HBM4 sales and strong demand for server SSDs. The foundry business improved on sales of HBM base dies and advanced nodes, and Samsung says it won 2nm high-performance computing orders, including from major hyperscalers.

The other divisions tell a different story. Mobile (MX) and networks posted an operating loss of 0.6 trillion won on revenue of 37.7 trillion won. The visual display and digital appliances businesses lost 0.2 trillion won on revenue of 13.9 trillion won. Samsung Display reported revenue of 8.0 trillion won and operating profit of 1.1 trillion won.

2027 HBM supply

On the earnings call, Jaejune Kim, executive vice president of memory global sales and marketing, said: “Our 2027 HBM supply volume is already sold out at an agreed target price that reflect our product competitiveness.” That statement does not appear in the press release. The release says AI-driven demand in 2027 “will far exceed the industry supply in comparison with 2026” and that the company plans multi-year contracts to secure a stable sales base.

According to Kim, HBM4 sales more than tripled from the previous quarter in the third quarter. He also said Samsung was the first in the world to ship HBM4E samples, in early May, and plans to start mass production of HBM4E in the first half of next year. For 2027, the company expects foundry growth from its 4nm and 2nm processes, and its new fab in Taylor, Texas, is set to begin operations.

Capital spending

Capital spending in the third quarter was 29 trillion won, of which 27.2 trillion won went to DS. For full-year 2026, the company expects capital spending of about 84.4 trillion won (about $63 billion), with 76.8 trillion won for the chip division. According to Daniel Oh, head of investor relations, that is an increase of 31.7 trillion won from last year. Compared with 2025 spending of 52.8 trillion won, the increase is more than 60%. Kim said he expects capital spending to rise significantly across the broad market in 2027; the company did not give its own 2027 figure.

Estimates and the stock

Despite the records, some items fell short of expectations. According to Korea JoongAng Daily, operating profit beat FnGuide’s consensus of 106 trillion won, but chip profit came in slightly lower than analyst estimates of more than 107 trillion won. Net profit rose 514.4% from a year earlier to 75.14 trillion won but fell well short of FnGuide’s 87.4 trillion won estimate. Measured against the LSEG estimates cited by CNBC, revenue and operating profit came in marginally lower than expected.

The shares closed down 4.13% at 232,000 won in Seoul on Oct. 29. According to JoongAng, uncertainty over shareholder returns weighed on the stock. Samsung estimates total 2026 shareholder returns of 90 trillion to 110 trillion won, of which 35 trillion won has been planned or completed. The remaining 55 trillion to 75 trillion won will go to a large share buyback and cancellation plus cash dividends, but the split was left to a board meeting in late January 2027. A third-quarter cash dividend of 4,601 won per share, totaling 30 trillion won, will be paid on Nov. 27. Josh Gilbert, an analyst at eToro, told CNBC that a record result is now treated as the bare minimum.