Samsung Electronics (SAMSUNG) Projects $80 Billion Q3 Operating Profit

Record Quarter on AI Memory Demand

Samsung Electronics expects to post 107.4 trillion won, roughly $80 billion, in operating profit for the third quarter, according to its preliminary disclosure filed on Thursday. The figure would make the company the first technology firm ever to clear 100 trillion won in a single quarter. Operating profit, the money a business earns from its core operations before interest and taxes, rose 782.5% from a year earlier. Memory chips carried the quarter. These chips store data in phones and in the servers behind artificial intelligence (AI), and AI data centers are buying them faster than manufacturers can produce them, pushing prices higher across the industry. Samsung supplies both conventional DRAM and high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the stacked chips built to feed AI processors, which server builders now prioritize. Analysts estimate the memory division alone earned about 110 trillion won in the quarter. HBM shipments grew close to 50% from the second quarter, and both Samsung and Micron expect the industry shortage to persist into 2028. The preliminary number, released ahead of the audited report, is the figure Korean markets trade on first. Macro strategist Jerry Robinson argued on X that AI infrastructure spending is minting large profits for chip suppliers while pushing costs onto other industries. The phone business paid the other side of that bill: analysts estimate the mobile division lost more than $1 billion as component prices climbed. Samsung will break results down by division when it publishes full figures on Thursday, October 29.

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A Crowded Thursday for Sellers

The record number landed on a crowded trading day. Goldman Sachs analyst Heather Oh had warned clients ahead of the session that Thursday, October 8 would combine the preliminary report, a rebalancing across seven semiconductor ETFs, options expiry and the end of Samsung's 15 trillion won share buyback, according to Hankyung. Each of those moves flow at the same time: rebalancing forces index funds to trade the name regardless of view, expiry settles positions hedged around the report, and the buyback's conclusion removes a systematic buyer from the register. Sellers used the window. The Korea Times reported that foreign investors sold a net 348.5 billion won of the stock on the day, while institutions sold 647.7 billion won. Even against that pressure, most published price targets sit far above where the shares finished the session. Goldman Sachs reiterated its buy rating and a 490,000 won target, roughly 87% above Thursday's close, on September 18. Korea Investment & Securities sits highest at 650,000 won. BNK Investment & Securities is the outlier with a 270,000 won target and a hold rating, citing aggressive capacity expansion across the industry. Growth is also decelerating: analysts expect fourth-quarter operating profit to rise 8.2% from the third quarter, down from the 20% growth recorded this quarter.

Down 4.83% After the Preliminary Print

The market read the preliminary number with caution. COINOTAG data shows Samsung Electronics (SAMSUNG) trading at $191.33, down 4.83% over the past 24 hours inside a $188.17 to $201.32 range, with the daily trend still classified as a downtrend. The composite scoring places the strongest overhead resistance at $208.57, scored 93/100, while the nearest defended support sits at $189.73, scored 69/100, just below the last price. Momentum reads are soft: the daily RSI prints 43.6 and the MACD signal is bearish. Open interest on the stock perpetual stands at $27.0 million. A defense of $189.73 keeps the current range intact; a close through $208.57, or even the Bollinger Bands midline near $202, would mark the first clear break of the strongest resistance in this move.