In its latest financial report for the first quarter (Q1) of 2026, Samsung Electronics posted an all-time high consolidated revenue of 133.9 trillion won (approximately $90 billion). Plus, its operating profit emerged by over 750% compared to last year. More specifically, it reached an impressive 57.2 trillion won.
It’s noteworthy that these quarterly profits have already exceeded the company’s entire earnings for 2025.
AI chips drove Samsung’s record earnings in Q1 2026
While Samsung is famous for its smartphones, it is the Device Solutions (DS) division—the arm responsible for memory chips—that truly stole the show. This division accounted for over 90% of the company’s total earnings this quarter.
The global explosion of AI infrastructure has created a massive “chip crunch.” High-demand products like High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) are key for the data centers that power AI. Samsung has capitalized on this by becoming the first to mass-produce HBM4 chips for advanced platforms like NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin. According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung’s profit margins in this sector even surpassed those of tech industry titans like Nvidia and TSMC this quarter.
Mobile challenges and future outlook
The story isn’t purely about chips, though. The Mobile eXperience (MX) division, which handles Galaxy smartphones, saw a 30% increase in revenue compared to the previous quarter. However, operating profits for mobile dropped year-over-year as rising component costs began to squeeze margins. Ironically, this was caused by the high price of the very memory chips Samsung produces.
Samsung doesn’t seem to be slowing down. The company expects the AI boom to last until the end of 2026. Executives noted during their earnings call that memory supply is currently at a record low compared to demand. There are even some customers trying to secure orders for 2027.
Global supply chain risks and competition from rivals like SK Hynix remain. Still, Samsung’s massive investment in AI-centric hardware seems to be paying off in a historic way.
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