Samsung’s operating profit is projected to surge next year as robust demand for next-generation memory lifts margins across its chip division, according to a new note from KB Securities.
The brokerage’s analyst Jeff Kim expects company-wide operating profit to “skyrocket 108%” year-over-year to an all-time high of 82.2 trillion Korean won (KRW) in 2026.
This growth is anticipated to be mainly fueled by Samsung’s Device Solutions (DS) segment, where KB forecasts operating profit to triple year-on-year to 61.8 trillion KRW next year, supported by shipment growth and higher average selling prices (ASPs).
Samsung’s DS division is the company’s semiconductor arm, covering memory chips like DRAM and NAND as well as system semiconductors.
KB also projects Samsung’s HBM vendor share at Nvidia to double, helped by competitors redesigning their HBM4 chips for Nvidia’s Rubin platform. Total HBM shipments are expected to rise 2.5 times year-on-year.
In the nearer term, fourth-quarter performance is set to improve as well. Kim estimates revenue of 88.6 trillion won, up 17% from a year earlier, and operating profit of 16 trillion won, up 147% year-on-year. That would exceed the previous all-time quarterly high of 15.8 trillion won recorded in 2021.
The analyst expects DS operating profit to reach 12.2 trillion for the period, supported by “chip price advances” and rising shipments of 12-high HBM3E, which it says should account for 97% of Samsung’s total HBM shipments.
“Substantial NAND profitability gains from growing high-capacity eSSD shipments” are also expected to help DS’s operating profit growth, Kim noted. Looking ahead, the analyst expects Samsung to focus on premium HBM4 production. The chip uses a 1c DRAM process and a 4nm logic die and is expected to be the most expensive in its peer group due to its speed and low-power characteristics.
Although Samsung’s stock is up 93% over the past year, Kim notes that shares still trade at a discount because of the company’s late start in supplying HBM to Nvidia.
“In 2026, however, we see Samsung’s total HBM shipments jumping 2.5x YoY as its HBM4 vendor share at Nvidia climbs as high as 40% thanks to competitors’ chip redesigning,” he continued.
“That said, Samsung’s fair market cap should reach 1.02 quadrillion KRW, as the three-year HBM discount turns into a premium and the company becomes the prime beneficiary of the conventional DRAM price upcycle.”
