Key takeaways
- Samsung reported KRW 195.3 trillion in Q3 2026 revenue and KRW 107.4 trillion in operating profit.
- The chip division earned KRW 106.5 trillion, while mobile, TV and appliance units lost money.
- Capital spending reached KRW 29.0 trillion in the quarter, and Samsung expects about KRW 84.4 trillion for 2026.
Samsung Electronics published its Q3 2026 results on October 29, a record quarter: KRW 195.3 trillion in revenue and KRW 107.4 trillion in operating profit. Almost all of the profit came from its chip division, where memory sales to AI data centers drove the quarter.
The Device Solutions (DS) division, which makes memory chips and runs the foundry, earned KRW 106.5 trillion of operating profit on KRW 147.1 trillion of revenue. The rest of the company, taken together, lost money.
Memory carries the quarter
Samsung says memory set records for both revenue and operating profit, and that sales of HBM4, the high-bandwidth memory stacked next to AI accelerators, "significantly scaled up". It did not give separate memory or HBM figures. Foundry revenue and earnings improved, also without numbers.
Group revenue rose 14% from the previous quarter. DS revenue rose 15%.
The other divisions
| Division | Revenue | Operating result |
|---|---|---|
| DS (chips) | KRW 147.1T | KRW 106.5T profit |
| Samsung Display | KRW 8.0T | KRW 1.1T profit |
| Mobile and networks | KRW 37.7T | KRW 0.6T loss |
| TVs and appliances | KRW 13.9T | KRW 0.2T loss |
The device division as a whole (DX) lost KRW 0.8 trillion. Samsung's release does not explain why segment revenues add up to more than the consolidated figure.
Spending and payouts
Capital spending in the quarter was KRW 29.0 trillion, up KRW 12.2 trillion from the second quarter, with KRW 27.2 trillion going to chips. Samsung expects about KRW 84.4 trillion for the full year 2026.
The quarterly dividend is KRW 4,601 per share, about KRW 30 trillion in total. Samsung estimates total shareholder returns for 2026 at KRW 90 to 110 trillion, of which KRW 35 trillion is planned or done. The remaining KRW 55 to 75 trillion, including a buyback and share cancellation, will be set at a board meeting in late January 2027.
Bloomberg's headlines on the results said Samsung's chip profit missed analyst estimates and that its shares slid after the return plan was delayed. We could not read those articles in full, so the size of the miss is not reported here.
What Samsung expects next
For the fourth quarter, Samsung expects AI demand to keep memory strong, with more HBM, server DRAM, SSD and DDR5 sales. It expects double-digit foundry revenue growth. Display earnings should improve only a little. The phone business expects a year-end lift from the Galaxy S26 and the Z Fold8 line.
Watch for the late January board meeting, which sets how much of the KRW 55 to 75 trillion goes to buybacks. NVIDIA reports its own quarter on November 17, per its announcement. SK hynix, Samsung's closest memory rival, also had a strong quarter; see our report on its results.