On October 8, 2026, Samsung Electronics published preliminary earnings guidance for the third quarter of 2026. Consolidated sales were approximately 195 trillion Korean won and consolidated operating profit approximately 107.40 trillion won, on K-IFRS. Because Korean disclosure rules do not allow a range as headline guidance, these are the midpoints of ranges of 194 to 196 trillion won for sales and 107.3 to 107.5 trillion won for operating profit.
The release gives the comparison figures: in Q2 2026, sales were 171.5 trillion won and operating profit 89.49 trillion won; in Q3 2025, sales were 86.06 trillion won and operating profit 12.17 trillion won. That puts operating profit up roughly 8.8 times year over year and about 20 percent quarter over quarter, with sales more than doubling from a year earlier.
The guidance follows Micron’s record fiscal Q4 2026 results and SK hynix’s record Q2, as all three major memory makers ride demand for the DRAM and high-bandwidth memory that AI accelerators need.
Why it matters: Samsung is the world’s largest memory maker, and an operating profit that grew almost ninefold in a year is one of the clearest signs that the AI buildout has turned memory from a cyclical commodity into one of the scarcest parts of the AI server.
What it does not show: the guidance release is two numbers. It has no breakdown by division and does not mention AI or HBM; attributing the jump to AI memory demand is industry context, not Samsung’s own statement. Divisional results come with the full earnings release later in October.