Samsung Forecast to Post Record Profit as AI Memory Demand Surges

Samsung Electronics is benefiting from a powerful surge in demand for memory chips as technology companies expand their artificial intelligence infrastructure. The South Korean electronics giant has already reported record quarterly earnings in 2026, with second-quarter operating profit reaching approximately 89.4 trillion won, compared with 4.68 trillion won during the same period a year earlier. Samsung said its second-quarter revenue was about 171 trillion won.

The main driver of the improvement has been Samsung’s semiconductor business, particularly memory products used in AI servers. Demand has increased for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), as well as conventional DRAM and NAND products. Analysts have linked the broader demand to AI inference, where systems process and respond to users’ requests and require substantial amounts of memory and storage.

The company has also benefited from a shortage in the global memory market. Samsung previously warned that supply could remain constrained as customers seek to secure long-term supplies for their expanding AI infrastructure. Reports in July indicated that the company expected the shortage to extend into 2028, highlighting the difficulty of rapidly increasing semiconductor production because new manufacturing capacity requires significant time and investment.

However, the AI-driven memory boom is also creating challenges for Samsung’s other businesses. Higher memory prices increase component costs for smartphones and other consumer electronics. Reuters reported that Samsung’s mobile division subsequently faced pressure as memory prices rose, while investors have also questioned how long the current level of AI infrastructure spending can continue. These concerns show that the benefits of the semiconductor boom are not evenly distributed across Samsung’s businesses.

Samsung’s results underline the growing financial importance of artificial intelligence across the semiconductor industry. As cloud providers and technology companies continue investing in AI infrastructure, demand for advanced memory is expected to remain a major factor influencing chipmakers’ earnings. At the same time, future results will depend on memory prices, production capacity and the pace at which global companies continue expanding their AI data centres.