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AI chip boom drives Samsung to historic $38.5B quarterly profit

Published: 30 Apr. 2026, 08:58 Updated: 30 Apr. 2026, 13:59

LEE JAE-LIM
[email protected]

Samsung Electronics flag at the company’s Seocho office in southern Seoul [YONHAP]

Samsung Electronics reported its strongest quarterly results in its corporate history for the January-March period, with operating profit hitting 57.23 trillion won ($38.5 billion), more than eightfold surge year-on-year that beat market expectations by a wide margin.

That marks a 755.46 percent jump compared to the same period a year earlier driven by robust memory demand and escalating chip prices, far exceeding the market consensus of 40.2 trillion won compiled by market tracker FnGuide.

The figure surpasses Samsung’s entire annual operating profit of 43.6 trillion won in 2025.

Revenue for the quarter came in at 133.87 trillion won, up 69.16 percent year-on-year. It was also above the forecast of 119 trillion won.

Nearly 94 percent of the company's profits were attributed to its semiconductor chip division, driven by robust sales of high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI data centers.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]