Samsung Sets New All-Time Record, Surpasses 20 Trillion Won in Q4 Operating Profit

Provisional Operating Profit Reaches 20 Trillion Won in Q4 Last Year
Record-High Quarterly Revenue and Operating Profit
Performance Continues to Improve on the Back of 'Memory Boom'

Samsung Electronics recorded an operating profit of 20 trillion won in the fourth quarter of last year, setting a new all-time high. This marks the first time in Korean corporate history that quarterly operating profit has surpassed 20 trillion won. With the recovery of its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) competitiveness and a booming memory market, the company is expected to break even higher records this year.

On January 8, Samsung Electronics announced in a regulatory filing that its consolidated operating profit for the fourth quarter of last year was provisionally tallied at 20 trillion won. This represents a 208.2% increase compared to the same period last year and a 64.3% rise from the previous quarter's 12.17 trillion won. This breaks the previous record of 17.57 trillion won in quarterly operating profit, which was set in the third quarter of 2018 during what was considered a semiconductor boom, after 29 quarters. Not only for Samsung but for any Korean company, this is the first time that quarterly operating profit has exceeded 20 trillion won.

Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics. Photo by Yonhap News

Samsung Electronics has once again set a new all-time record. Revenue reached 93 trillion won, up 22.7% from the same period last year and 8.1% from the previous quarter. This is also the first time Samsung Electronics' quarterly revenue has surpassed the 90 trillion won mark.

This performance exceeded the consensus forecast by securities firms. According to FnGuide, as of the previous day, the consensus for Samsung Electronics' fourth-quarter results was revenue of 90.6016 trillion won and operating profit of 17.8208 trillion won. Over the past three months, operating profit forecasts had hovered in the 17 trillion won range, but a sharp rise in general-purpose memory prices pushed expectations higher. The provisional results announced by Samsung Electronics on this day once again surpassed market expectations.

The strongest driver behind Samsung Electronics' record-breaking performance is the rise in memory prices. Industry experts believe that explosive demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and server capacity has led to an unprecedented boom in the memory market, spanning all sectors including HBM and general-purpose DRAM. Some analysts now say the industry has entered a "hyper-bull" phase, surpassing even 2018, which had previously been considered the peak of the semiconductor boom.

Improvements in the competitiveness of the foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) and system LSI business units, such as the start of mass production using the 2nm (1nm = one-billionth of a meter) process, also appear to have contributed positively by reducing losses.

Although segment-specific results were not disclosed on this day, the securities industry estimates that the DS (Device Solutions) division, which handles the semiconductor business, generated operating profit in the range of 16 trillion to 17 trillion won. This is a sharp increase of about 10 trillion won compared to the previous quarter's 7 trillion won. Operating profit forecasts for other business divisions are around 2 trillion won for MX (Mobile eXperience) and Networks, 1 trillion won for Displays, and 500 billion won for Harman. The TV and home appliance division is expected to post a loss in the 100 billion won range.