Samsung posts record 107.4 trillion won ($80.5 billion) profit on AI chips

The result extends a streak rather than marking a single good quarter: Samsung described the July-September period as its fourth consecutive quarter of record profit and revenue. The driver is memory — the chips that hold data for AI systems — and Samsung said it expects demand for its AI-related chips to accelerate through 2027, outpacing supply as clients race to expand AI infrastructure.

The quarter did not unfold in isolation. SK Hynix, Samsung's domestic rival, reported record third-quarter profit a day earlier, and the two companies together control about two-thirds of the global memory market. Both are betting heavily on continued demand: in June they announced plans to invest a combined 800 trillion won ($599 billion) in a new chipmaking hub in South Korea's southwest, part of a broader push by South Korean tech companies into semiconductor facilities and data centers.

That concentration carries its own risk. Some analysts question whether the spending will ultimately pay off, and South Korea's central bank has warned that the country's trade-dependent economy is becoming too reliant on chips — a dependence it said could deepen the damage of any AI-related downturn.