Samsung Q3 profit jumps nearly nine-fold as AI memory boom lifts chip earnings

By Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee SEOUL, Oct 8 (Reuters) Samsung Electronics on Thursday projected a nearly nine-fold jump in third-quarter operating profit from a year earlier, beating analysts estimates as booming demand ​for artificial intelligence chips drove strong memory earnings. The world s largest ‌memory chipmaker estimated an operating profit of 107.4 trillion won ($80.17 billion) for the July-September period, compared with an LSEG SmartEstimate of 106.1 trillion won, a regulatory filing showed. Samsung s fourth consecutive quarter of record operating profit, up from 12.17 trillion won a year ‌earlier, ​underscores how soaring demand for AI infrastructure has ⁠outstripped memory chip supply growth, ⁠a gap expected to persist into 2027. Prices have soared due to the tight supply of conventional DRAM and NAND chips as well as growing demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), essential for processing vast amounts of ​data for AI applications. Third-quarter revenue would likely r