Samsung reports AI memory profit as its own devices lose money

Samsung reported its most profitable quarter, with 107.4 trillion won—about $80 billion—in operating profit. The company said nearly all of the result came from its chip business: the unit posted about $79.4 billion in operating profit, while memory sales reached roughly $104.9 billion, five times higher than a year earlier.

Higher memory costs, driven by demand from AI servers, hurt the device division. Mobile and network operations lost about $450 million, while TVs and appliances lost another $150 million; a year earlier, the combined businesses had earned about $2.6 billion. Samsung says AI demand will continue to exceed supply in 2027 and that next year’s HBM memory is already sold out. For Galaxy, its 2027 goal is to minimize the decline in profit, while the company expects shortages through 2028, compared with SK Hynix’s outlook for shortages through 2030.