Samsung achieves record revenue, profits hit 3x as AI chip demand explodes

Samsung has revealed its earnings estimates for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2025. After going through tough times over the past couple of years, the South Korean tech giant expects to achieve record-breaking revenue, and its profits could triple compared to the previous year.

According to Samsung Electronics, its revenue could be around KRW 93 trillion (~$64.16 billion), while its profit will likely reach KRW 20 trillion (~$13.8 billion) in Q4 2025. That makes its revenue 23% higher, while the profit is nearly 3x more than its figures from last year (Q4 2024). The company's previous quarterly profit record was KRW 17.57 trillion ($12.13 billion), which came in Q3 2018 during the memory supercycle.

All of this is primarily due to extremely strong sales of Samsung's semiconductor memory chips, like DRAM, HBM, and NAND. All these chips are being used in AI servers by firms like AMD, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and OpenAI. The demand for such chips is exploding as new, AI-powered algorithms are increasingly being used to create apps and services that offer new capabilities.

Samsung is the world's biggest memory chip maker. It competes with South Korea's SK Hynix and US-based Micron in this segment. While it struggled to sell its HBM3 and HBM3E chips to Nvidia in 2023 and 2024, it finally received HBM3E supply approval from Nvidia for the first time last year. Recently, it reportedly also received approval from Nvidia for HBM4 chips.

At least KRW 15 trillion (~$10.34 billion) of its quarterly profit reportedly came from its Samsung Device Solutions division, that sells semiconductor chips. Its smartphone division, Samsung MX, is estimated to have generated an operating profit of around KRW 2-3 trillion (~$1.37 to ~$2.06 billion) in Q4 2025.

Samsung's foundry business, Samsung Foundry, which makes chips for other companies, has reportedly narrowed losses. Its home appliances business, Samsung DX, faced tough competition from rivals, which could affect its profits. The company's display manufacturing division, Samsung Display, remained profitable.

Samsung Electronics will post actual figures and more details on how each of its divisions performed before the end of this month. Analysts expect that the company could achieve even higher revenue and profits in 2026. Its full-year profit could cross KRW 100 trillion (~$69 billion) for the first time this year.