Samsung Shares Dip 3% Despite Record $80B Profit

Samsung's stock declined 2.69% to 235,500 won by 10:11 a.m. Korea time on Thursday, just after the firm posted a record quarterly operating profit of KRW 107.4 trillion, roughly $80 billion.

Prior to the release, the shares had been trading higher, building on a 9% jump from Wednesday that came in the wake of SK Hynix's own standout quarter. The stock reversed course once the figures were published at 10:00 a.m.

Samsung had already flagged the same profit total on October 8, meaning Thursday's update offered fresh insight primarily into the performance of individual business units.

Chips Accounted for Nearly All Earnings

Revenue came in at KRW 195.3 trillion, a 14% rise from the prior quarter, based on Samsung's own figures. The Device Solutions (DS) division, responsible for Samsung's semiconductor production, delivered KRW 106.5 trillion in operating profit.

The memory segment achieved record sales and earnings, with HBM4 sales—a memory chip designed for AI servers—climbing substantially.

Samsung Display contributed KRW 1.1 trillion, while the consumer device arm ended up in the red.

Phones and TVs Remain Loss-Making

The Device eXperience (DX) division, encompassing phones, TVs and appliances, posted a KRW 0.8 trillion loss. The mobile and networks unit lost KRW 0.6 trillion, following a KRW 0.7 trillion deficit in the second quarter, per Samsung's Q2 report.

Revenue for that unit grew to KRW 37.7 trillion from KRW 34.1 trillion a year earlier, when it earned KRW 3.6 trillion, according to Samsung's Q3 2025 results.

Samsung linked the year-over-year profit drop to cost pressures, and its Q2 report had already cited elevated component costs industry-wide.

The TV and appliance unit's loss deepened from a marginal deficit in Q2 to KRW 0.2 trillion. Samsung attributed this to higher expenses, including raw materials and logistics within its appliance business.

Investors were also awaiting a second metric: the scale of cash returns Samsung plans to deliver.

Shareholder Payouts Delayed Until January

Samsung declared a third-quarter dividend of KRW 4,601 per share, totaling KRW 30 trillion. It anticipates KRW 55–75 trillion of its 2026 return budget will remain, covering a “substantial” share buyback and cancellation alongside cash dividends. The board is set to finalize the figure at a meeting slated for late January 2027.

A day earlier, SK Hynix unveiled a 100 trillion won return scheme, and its stock climbed 10.9%.

Beyond this quarter, Samsung's memory business projects that AI-driven demand in 2027 will outpace industry supply by a larger margin than in 2026. The company forecasts roughly KRW 84.4 trillion in capital spending this year, with KRW 76.8 trillion directed at chips.