Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) forecast a bigger-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, as the world’s largest memory chips maker benefited from surging memory prices due to a growing artificial intelligence-fueled supply shortage.
Samsung forecast an operating profit of 20 trillion won ($13.82 billion) for the October-December quarter, higher than Reuters/LSEG estimates of 18 trillion won. The figure was also more than triple the 6.49 trillion won profit logged in the same period in 2024.
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Sales are expected to have jumped to about 93 trillion won in Q4 from 75.79 trillion won a year ago.
Samsung’s bumper earnings forecast was driven chiefly by rapidly increasing memory chip prices, as AI companies snapped up a bulk of the chipmaker’s supplies and triggered a supply shortage.
Memory chip prices are expected to have surged by 40% to 50% in Q4, data from Counterpoint research showed, with further increases of 40% to 50% expected in the first quarter of 2026.
Samsung had earlier warned of a looming memory shortage, and had also signaled it would shift focus on to more high-margin items, such as advanced high-bandwith memory chips used in AI servers.
The company is close to striking a deal to supply AI major NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) with HBM chips. It had earlier also signed a major supply agreement with OpenAI.
But while the company’s core chipmaking unit is expected to have benefited from outsized AI demand, Samsung’s smartphone unit may face slowing demand, especially as device prices increase due to the chip shortage.
Samsung co-CEO TM Roh warned this week that prices of mobiles and other consumer electronics were likely to increase in the coming months.
The company will release its complete Q4 earnings later in January.
Shares of the South Korean conglomerate whipsawed in South Korean trade and briefly hit a record high.
Samsung shares hit a series of record highs over the past week, following upbeat comments from Roh and as markets grew more optimistic over rising memory chip prices.
Rival chipmaker SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) rallied over 5% to a record high on Thursday, also helping underpin an over 1% rise in the KOSPI.
