What you need to know
- Samsung’s profits nearly tripled in Q4 2025, fueled by AI-driven demand for memory chips, delivering KRW 20.1 trillion in profit on KRW 93.8 trillion in revenue.
- Samsung is selling fewer chips overall but making significantly more money by prioritizing high-priced AI memory over standard consumer chips.
- The company’s 2026 roadmap prioritizes advanced HBM, AI SSDs, and a shift to a 2nd-gen 2nm process in its foundry, with the upcoming Galaxy S26 being the consumer face of this, pushing agentic AI features.
Samsung’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results showed its operating profit nearly tripled from last year. Strong demand and higher prices for memory chips used in AI drove this growth, with the company earning KRW 20.1 trillion (about $14 billion) in profit on KRW 93.8 trillion (about $66 billion) in revenue, making it one of its best quarters ever.
What’s changed this time is that AI’s growing demand for memory is making supply tighter and pushing up prices for DRAM, NAND, and high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Instead of selling more devices, Samsung Device Solutions is selling fewer but more expensive memory chips. These now account for most of its profits.
A quick look at memory economics: Chips for AI servers, especially HBM in data centers, use more wafer capacity. This leaves less room for making consumer RAM for PCs and phones. As a result, supply is tighter, and prices are higher. This is a typical supply-and-demand squeeze, much like the broader 2024 to 2026 memory shortage.
As a result, Samsung’s Q4 memory profit grew more than five times compared to last year, far outpacing growth in smartphones and displays. In those areas, profit margins shrank as memory costs rose.
Prices aren’t coming down soon
Analysts on Samsung’s earnings call highlighted this change. Kim Jae-june, a memory chip executive at Samsung, said that memory prices are still high and will likely stay that way, even as Samsung increases production of its next-generation HBM4 chips, which are expected to launch in large numbers in early 2026. This matches what the industry is seeing: memory prices should remain strong until supply increases.
Smartphones and displays, which used to be Samsung’s top consumer products, are now facing challenges. Mobile profits are down because higher chip prices have raised manufacturing costs.
Looking ahead, Samsung wants to keep its momentum going. In 2026, the company plans to strengthen its leadership in AI by launching next-generation HBM4 products, including a top industry version, and expanding AI-related NAND solutions like high-performance SSDs. The foundry aims for double-digit revenue growth as it moves to a second-generation 2nm process. For mobile, the upcoming Galaxy S26 will focus on advancing AI smartphone leadership with new agentic AI features.
Android Central’s Take
What does this record-breaking chip boom mean for you? It’s a mixed bag. On one side, Samsung’s big profits and investment in research are driving the next wave of innovation — faster AI phones, more efficient laptops, and powerful data centers for new apps and services. We’re already seeing this with HBM4 and 2nm chips.
On the other hand, the AI-driven chip shortage means prices for high-end devices may stay high, and the best components could be harder to find. Samsung’s success shows that the main competition in AI is happening in chip factories, and its current lead means future devices will be shaped by its technology. For now, Samsung is ahead in the AI memory race.
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