The Samsung exhibition stand options the distinguished ”A brand new period of cellular agentic AI” slogan by the South Korean firm Samsung Electronics.
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Samsung Electronics reported an over eight-fold improve in first-quarter working income on Thursday, hitting a brand new document and beating analysts’ estimates on the explosive development of its chip enterprise.
Listed here are Samsung’s first-quarter outcomes in contrast with LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted towards forecasts from analysts who’re extra persistently correct:
- Income: 133.9 trillion Korean gained ($89.96 billion) vs. 132.69 trillion gained anticipated
- Working revenue: 57.2 trillion gained vs. 55.28 trillion gained anticipated
The South Korean know-how big’s quarterly revenue climbed greater than 750% from a yr earlier to a contemporary document. The corporate additionally posted document income, up about 70% yr over yr.
The income got here in step with Samsung’s personal estimates of 57.2 trillion gained and exceeded its full-year 2025 income of 43.6 trillion gained.
The earnings prolong momentum from the ultimate quarter of final yr, when Samsung surpassed its prior document of 17.6 trillion gained set within the third quarter of 2018.
Samsung’s document earnings got here on the energy of its chip enterprise. Apart from its smartphone enterprise and semiconductor foundry companies, the agency is a significant producer of reminiscence chips.
The agency’s chip enterprise has emerged as a significant beneficiary of the worldwide AI information middle growth, which has constrained provide and pushed up costs of reminiscence chips utilized in information facilities and electronics equivalent to smartphones, PCs and recreation consoles.
The corporate stated in an earnings report that it expects server reminiscence demand to stay robust into the second half of the yr as hyperscalers proceed to accommodate AI adoption and demand for agentic AI accelerates.
Chip energy
Samsung’s chip enterprise, also called its DS (Gadget Options) division, encompasses its reminiscence chip, semiconductor design and foundry enterprise items.
The division posted an working revenue of 53.7 trillion Korean gained within the first quarter, in contrast with nearly 1 trillion Korean gained in the identical interval final yr. Chip income reached 81.7 trillion Korean gained, up 225% from final yr.
The robust exhibiting comes as Samsung continues to develop its high-bandwidth reminiscence, or HBM, enterprise, a key part in AI information middle chips.
Chipmakers equivalent to Nvidia — the world’s most beneficial firm — have pushed demand for HBM, amid restricted provides.
As producers prioritize manufacturing for higher-margin AI functions, provide constraints have pushed up costs for reminiscence utilized in client electronics.
In its earnings report, Samsung stated that its reminiscence enterprise “surpassed its quarterly gross sales document by addressing high-value-added AI demand regardless of restricted provide availability, with industry-wide reminiscence worth will increase additionally a contributing issue.”
Nonetheless, Samsung has confronted robust competitors within the HBM area, shedding an early result in rival SK Hynix.
Samsung has been racing to catch as much as SK Hynix within the profitable know-how, asserting in February that it had began delivery its first HBM4 chips to unnamed prospects, practically a yr after SK Hynix started delivering its first HBM4 samples.
HBM4 is the sixth era of HBM know-how and probably the most superior model so far. It’s anticipated to be the primary AI reminiscence chip utilized in Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin structure, designed for highly effective AI workloads in information facilities.
“Samsung has made enhancements in HBM4 and the hole in opposition to SK Hynix is narrower versus earlier generations of HBM,” stated Ray Wang, analyst at SemiAnalysis, the place he leads the corporate’s reminiscence protection from Seoul.
“But we proceed to see SK Hynix main the HBM race versus its friends,” he added.
In keeping with information from Counterpoint Analysis, SK Hynix continued to steer HBM with a 57% income market share within the last quarter of final yr.
