No company in South Korea had ever made more than 100 trillion won of operating profit in a single quarter. On Thursday Samsung Electronics said it had just made about 107.4 trillion, roughly $80 billion at CNBC's conversion, in the three months to September. It is also the first time Samsung itself has gone past 100 trillion. Its shares went down.
Operating profit is what the business earns from making and selling things, before interest and tax, and the figure Samsung published is an early estimate rather than a finished set of accounts. Korean disclosure rules do not let a company publish its guidance as a range, so Samsung gives the middle of one, in this case 107.3 trillion to 107.5 trillion won. The full results, with a split by business, are expected later this month.
How big 107 trillion won is
Start with last year. The same quarter of 2025 brought in 12.17 trillion won of operating profit, so this one is close to nine times bigger. It also beats the record Samsung set only three months ago, about 89.5 trillion won in the April to June quarter. On its own, the quarter comfortably tops double what Samsung made in the whole of 2025.
Sales grew as well, just not as fast. They came to about 195 trillion won, a little more than double a year earlier. Put the two together and Samsung now keeps about 55 won of operating profit out of every 100 won it sells, against roughly 14 won a year ago.
For a sense of scale, the Korean daily Kyunghyang Shinmun points out that the quarter is bigger than Nvidia's second-quarter operating profit of $63.7 billion.
Where the money came from
Samsung has not said which part of the business produced it. Kyunghyang reports that the chip-making division is seen as the one driving the surge, and CNBC notes that the April to June record was carried by memory chips.
Investors wanted more. Josh Gilbert of eToro told CNBC that Samsung "has delivered a record profit and still fallen short of expectations", and the shares were 0.7% lower on Thursday morning. When the division breakdown arrives later this month, it will show how much of the record belongs to chips.
