[Anchor]
Samsung Electronics has posted an operating profit of over 107 trillion won in the third quarter alone, marking a record-high performance. Prospects are even emerging that, at this rate, it could become the most profitable company in the world this year.
Reporter Park Jaehyeon has the details.
[Reporter]
Samsung Electronics has become the first South Korean company to usher in an era of 100 trillion won in quarterly earnings.
For the third quarter of this year, sales reached 195 trillion won, while operating profit stood at 107.4 trillion won.
This marks the second-highest record globally, following Saudi state-owned oil giant Aramco, which posted 116 trillion won in 2022.
It also comfortably surpassed the recent quarterly operating profits of U.S. big tech companies such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft.
Cumulative operating profit up to the third quarter reached 254.1 trillion won, leading to projections that the annual total will exceed 360 trillion won this year.
This is similar to the 360.2 trillion won operating profit forecast for this year by Nvidia, the world's top company by market capitalization, raising predictions that Samsung Electronics could become the company with the highest operating profit in the world this year.
[Kim Dong-won / Head of Research Center, KB Securities: It is very similar to or has the possibility of exceeding (Nvidia's operating profit this year). In the case of legacy DRAM and NAND flash, supply shortages have intensified, creating a supply-demand structure where additional price increases are possible....]
Behind the massive operating profit are the ongoing memory shortage and the resulting price hikes.
As the proliferation of AI continues to drive up demand for high-performance and legacy memory, the prices of DRAM and NAND flash—which surged sixfold and ninefold compared to the third quarter of last year—are rising even further.
Amid competition to secure memory supply first, Samsung Electronics is converting 60 to 70 percent of its total production into 5-year long-term contracts.
This is a situation where sharp declines in sales can be prevented even if a semiconductor downcycle hits.
[Lisa Su / CEO of AMD: As supply chains become more complex, cooperation on a 3- to 5-year basis is necessary, rather than just 1 to 3 years.]
Sales of HBM4, the latest high-bandwidth memory with high profit margins, are also estimated to have surged amid competition to expand agentic AI.
However, it was analyzed that the home appliances and mobile divisions likely posted deficits due to rising memory prices.
Samsung Electronics plans to release detailed earnings by division later this month.
(Camera Reporter: Seol Chi-hwan, Video Editing: Kim Jong-mi, Design: Seo Seung-hyun)
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