The Samsung exhibition stand options the outstanding ”A brand new period of cell 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 report and beating analysts’ estimates on the explosive progress 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 expertise large’s quarterly revenue climbed greater than 750% from a 12 months earlier to a recent report. The corporate additionally posted report income, up about 70% 12 months over 12 months.
The income got here according to Samsung’s personal estimates of 57.2 trillion won and exceeded its full-year 2025 income of 43.6 trillion gained.
The earnings prolong momentum from the final quarter of last year, when Samsung surpassed its prior report of 17.6 trillion gained set within the third quarter of 2018.
Samsung’s report earnings got here on the power of its chip enterprise. Apart from its smartphone enterprise and semiconductor foundry companies, the agency is a serious producer of reminiscence chips.
The agency’s chip enterprise has emerged as a serious beneficiary of the worldwide AI knowledge heart increase, which has constrained supply and pushed up costs of reminiscence chips utilized in knowledge facilities and electronics corresponding to smartphones, PCs and recreation consoles.
The corporate stated in an earnings report that it expects server reminiscence demand to stay sturdy into the second half of the 12 months as hyperscalers proceed to accommodate AI adoption and demand for agentic AI accelerates.
Chip power
Samsung’s chip enterprise, also called its DS (Gadget Options) division, encompasses its reminiscence chip, semiconductor design and foundry enterprise models.
The division posted an working revenue of 53.7 trillion Korean gained within the first quarter, in contrast with nearly 1 trillion Korean won in the identical interval final 12 months. Chip income reached 81.7 trillion Korean gained, up 225% from final 12 months.
The sturdy exhibiting comes as Samsung continues to increase its high-bandwidth reminiscence, or HBM, enterprise, a key part in AI knowledge heart chips.
Chipmakers corresponding to Nvidia — the world’s most precious firm — have pushed demand for HBM, amid restricted provides.
As producers prioritize manufacturing for higher-margin AI purposes, provide constraints have pushed up costs for reminiscence utilized in shopper electronics.
In its earnings report, Samsung stated that its reminiscence enterprise “surpassed its quarterly gross sales report by addressing high-value-added AI demand regardless of restricted provide availability, with industry-wide reminiscence value will increase additionally a contributing issue.”
Nonetheless, Samsung has confronted sturdy competitors within the HBM area, dropping an early result in rival SK Hynix.
Samsung has been racing to catch as much as SK Hynix within the profitable expertise, asserting in February that it had began delivery its first HBM4 chips to unnamed clients, almost a 12 months after SK Hynix started delivering its first HBM4 samples.
HBM4 is the sixth era of HBM expertise and probably the most superior model up to now. It’s anticipated to be the principle AI reminiscence chip utilized in Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin structure, designed for highly effective AI workloads in knowledge 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 data from Counterpoint Analysis, SK Hynix continued to guide HBM with a 57% income market share within the remaining quarter of final 12 months.