Samsung profit jumps eightfold amid AI chip revolution

Samsung Electronics has projected its first-quarter earnings would exceed its entire profit for last year.

The prediction, reported by Reuters, surpasses expectations of the company and comes during continued AI infrastructure demand continues to stretch supply and prompt chip prices to increase.

This is monumental growth for a company that, one year ago, was apologising for disappointing results and share price performance, after lagging in supplying high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips.

From apology to acceleration

Samsung continues to be one of the key beneficiaries of the AI data centre boom and has access to limited supplies of memory chips used for AI applications. The bulk of its rising earnings come from rising demand for traditional chips on account of AI demand.

At the start of the year, the company found its operating profit reached 20 trillion won (US$13.76 billion) and consolidated sales of roughly 93 trillion won ($64 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to its own earnings guidance.

Analysts also found that Samsung could now be on track to be a key supplier for Nvidia, leading to chief executive Jun Young-hyun declaring that “Samsung is back” and its chip manufacturing business was “primed for a Great Leap Forward” after a series of strong supply deals with the likes of Tesla and Thales.

Now, Samsung has estimated an operating profit of 57.2 trillion won (US$37.92 billion) for the January to March period – more than an eightfold jump from 6.69 trillion won roughly one year earlier. This triples Samsung’s previous record quarterly operating profit, which was reached in the fourth quarter of last year.

A currency slump in South Korea is also enabling Samsung to gain greater earnings, Reuters said.

Confronting memory prices and spurring HBM chip growth

Samsung’s gains come during a time of mass uncertainty in the wider technology sector, as the ongoing US-Israeli war with Iran has led to swelling energy costs. It has led to supply chain anxieties over AI and data centres, as some believe the disruption could slow growth.

This has led to growing concerns over memory chip price increases, with NH Investment & Securities analyst Ryu Young-ho telling Reuters that potential issues could include how companies like Samsung structure their long-term customer contracts to maintain semiconductor earnings.

“There are growing concerns about a peak-out in memory price increases. It does appear that we are now past the initial upcycle phase and into a later stage,” he explained.

Concerns have already led to memory chip stocks being sold off. However, Samsung’s shares are still up more than 60% this year, after a 125% jump from last year.

Additionally, the company is also working to compete in South Korea with SK Hynix by shipping its latest HBM4 chips to Nvidia in February. The company is also working alongside the company with OpenAI to build AI data centres in South Korea to fuel the country’s AI ambitions.

Mistral raises $830m to build Nvidia-powered AI data centre

Deloitte veteran joins Cisco board of directors to mobilise AI growth