▲ Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics achieved an operating profit of over 106 trillion won solely from its semiconductor business in the third quarter of this year, setting a record high for four consecutive quarters while becoming the first global big tech company to achieve a quarterly profit in the 100 trillion won range.
The finished goods business posted losses for two consecutive quarters as the burden of rising component prices, such as semiconductors, increased, but the mobile business attempted a rebound by narrowing its deficit.
Samsung Electronics expects the upward trend in semiconductor prices to continue into the fourth quarter, leading to sustained earnings improvements, and plans to continue infrastructure investments to secure an early lead in the artificial intelligence market and respond to mid-to-long-term demand.
Samsung Electronics announced today (October 29) that its consolidated operating profit for the third quarter of this year was provisionally tallied at 107.4405 trillion won, a 783.1% increase compared to the same period last year.
Revenue rose 126.9% year-on-year to 195.2532 trillion won, while net profit increased 514.6% to 75.1361 trillion won.
This operating profit exceeded the market consensus of 105.6764 trillion won compiled by Yonhap Infomax by 1.7%.
Both operating profit and revenue broke record highs for quarterly figures for the fourth consecutive quarter.
Regarding exchange rate impacts, declines in major exchange rates such as the US dollar and euro resulted in a negative effect of around 10 trillion won on company-wide operating profit compared to the previous quarter, centered around the component business.
Research and development expenses stood at 14.4 trillion won, continuing investments to secure future technological competitiveness.
The Device Solutions division, which handles the semiconductor business, recorded revenue of 147.1 trillion won and an operating profit of 106.5 trillion won.
In line with growing artificial intelligence demand, the company significantly expanded sales of HBM4, its 6th-generation high-bandwidth memory, and actively responded to growing demand for server solid-state drives, achieving record-high quarterly performance.
System LSI grew its quarterly revenue by equipping second-half new models with systems-on-chip and image sensors, while also materializing new customer and custom system-on-chip businesses.
The foundry business saw significantly improved performance driven by revenue growth from HBM base dies and expanded sales of advanced nodes to global clients, while continuing to secure orders centered around major hyperscalers.
The Device eXperience division, which handles finished goods, recorded revenue of 52.1 trillion won and an operating loss of 800 billion won.
The Mobile eXperience business, in charge of mobile operations, saw revenue grow compared to the previous quarter and the previous year, driven by the launch of new flagship models such as the Galaxy Z Fold8.
Despite increasing cost burdens, performance improved due to a rise in average selling prices resulting from a higher proportion of premium product sales.
The Visual Display business, responsible for TVs, saw demand decrease following the end of global sporting events, but limited the decline in profitability by expanding sales of premium products and streamlining costs.
Digital appliances saw favorable sales driven by strengthened domestic marketing activities and the expansion of appliance subscription and business-to-business operations, but profits decreased due to rising raw material and logistics costs.
Harman achieved revenue of 4.3 trillion won and an operating profit of 600 billion won, while Samsung Display posted revenue of 8 trillion won and an operating profit of 1.1 trillion won.
Samsung Electronics forecasted that company-wide earnings will continue to grow in the fourth quarter, centered around semiconductors.
The Device Solutions division expects strong overall demand for semiconductors to persist, driven by the accelerated adoption of agentic artificial intelligence.
The Device eXperience division plans to focus on securing profitability by expanding sales of premium products in line with the year-end peak season.
Next year is also projected to see a continuation of the strong semiconductor market conditions, driven by the prolonged record-breaking investments in artificial intelligence and semiconductor supply constraints.
Amid a market environment where artificial intelligence infrastructure investments continue to expand and memory demand is expected to significantly outpace supply, Samsung Electronics plans to strengthen its sales stance centered on high-value-added products such as expanding HBM4 sales, mass-producing HBM4E, and high-performance DDR5, backed by superior technology.
Samsung Electronics plans to execute facility investments amounting to 84.4 trillion won this year, with 76.8 trillion won allocated to the Device Solutions division and 3.9 trillion won to display, among others.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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