The world’s largest memory chipmaker estimated an operating profit of 12.1 trillion won (US$8.5 billion) for the July-September period, which would mark its highest quarterly profit in more than three years, well above the 10.1 trillion won predicted by LSEG SmartEstimate.
Samsung’s third-quarter results underscored strong demand for server and artificial intelligence-related chips, which has boosted prices and shipments of conventional DRAM and NAND products.
“The third-quarter earnings surprise came from the chip business,” said Ryu Young-ho, a senior analyst at NH Investment & Securities.
Although progress in supplying advanced high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips to major clients such as Nvidia was slower than expected, gains in commodity memory, also supported by tight supplies, helped cushion the impact, analysts said.
“Chip sales were strong overall, driven by higher prices and shipments, with HBM products accounting for a larger share within memory. The foundry unit also narrowed its losses as higher utilisation rates helped ease fixed-cost pressures,” Ryu said in a note.
