Samsung Electronics Q3 Operating Profit Hits 9 Trillion Won: Semiconductor Recovery Drives Performance Turnaround
Samsung Electronics announced third-quarter 2025 operating profit of 9 trillion won (approximately $6.75 billion), representing a 277% year-over-year increase and 67% quarter-over-quarter growth. This strong performance was primarily driven by the semiconductor division's recovery, particularly from rising memory chip prices and increased high-bandwidth memory (HBM) shipments. Samsung's earnings rebound marks the global semiconductor industry's entry into a new growth cycle, with artificial intelligence (AI) trends serving as the main catalyst.
Semiconductor Division Posts 6.5 Trillion Won Operating Profit, Leading Growth
Samsung's semiconductor division (DS Division) achieved operating profit of 6.5 trillion won in Q3, accounting for 72% of the company's total operating profit. This represents the division's best performance since Q4 2022, signaling its emergence from a two-year downturn that plagued the memory chip industry.
The semiconductor performance improvement stems primarily from memory chip price recovery. DRAM prices increased 20% quarter-over-quarter in Q3, while NAND flash prices rose 15%. Strong demand from AI servers, data centers, and smartphones drove the memory chip market recovery, reversing the oversupply conditions that had depressed prices throughout 2023 and early 2024.
Particularly notable is Samsung's breakthrough in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) business. HBM serves as a critical component for AI accelerators and GPUs, and demand has exploded with the proliferation of generative AI applications like ChatGPT. Samsung successfully mass-produced HBM3E (fifth-generation HBM) in Q3 and began shipping to major customers including NVIDIA and AMD, marking a significant competitive achievement against rival SK Hynix.
Samsung plans to further expand HBM production capacity in Q4, targeting an increase in HBM market share from the current 30% to 40%. The company is investing trillions of won to build new HBM production lines and hiring thousands of semiconductor engineers to support business expansion, positioning itself as a leader in the AI memory chip market.
Foundry Business Returns to Profitability with Customer Diversification Progress
Samsung's foundry business also achieved profitability in Q3 with operating profit of 500 billion won, ending six consecutive quarters of losses. The foundry recovery benefited from customer diversification and improved yields in advanced process nodes, reducing dependence on any single customer.
Samsung secured new orders from multiple customers in Q3, including Qualcomm's mobile processors, Tesla's autonomous driving chips, and orders from several Chinese chip design companies. This demonstrates Samsung Foundry's progress in building a more diversified customer portfolio beyond its historical reliance on limited partnerships.
On the technology front, Samsung's 3-nanometer process yields have improved to over 80%, approaching TSMC's levels. The company plans to introduce 2-nanometer processes in 2026 and achieve mass production of 1.4-nanometer processes by 2027. Samsung Foundry's technology roadmap indicates the company is narrowing the gap with TSMC and potentially positioning itself to lead in certain areas.
However, Samsung Foundry still faces challenges. TSMC commands over 60% of the global foundry market and has established long-term partnerships with major customers including Apple, AMD, and NVIDIA. Samsung Foundry needs to continue improving yields, enhancing customer trust, and expanding market share to become a true industry leader and credible TSMC alternative.
Read the original Korean article: TrendyNews Korea
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