Thanks to sustained demand in the artificial intelligence and memory sectors, Samsung Electronics achieved a record first quarter. Indeed, operating profits were up 600% year-on-year. At the same time, the brand announced a 30% price increase for its HBM and DDR5 memory. In short, if shortages are driving up prices, they’re also making some companies very happy!
Samsung Electronics: operating profits up 600% year-on-year in Q1 2026!
Operating profit of $23.7 billion!
In a nutshell, with all this talk of memory shortages, price hikes and so on, Samsung Electronics is rubbing its hands. Samsung Electronics is rubbing its hands. Indeed, the company is posting record operating profits, announcing a figure of $23.7 billion for the first quarter of 2026. Put simply, this represents a 600% year-on-year increase! What’s more, everything seems to be going smoothly for the company, since the losses incurred on the stock market in recent weeks have now been recouped.
Good for Samsung, not for the market!
On the other hand, while we’re very happy for the Korean giant, this situation isn’t necessarily good for the market. Indeed, memory prices remain particularly high, and the supply-demand deficit remains tight, which has led to considerable price rises, particularly for DDR5 memory, where the price of RAM kits has skyrocketed. Even now, prices remain sky-high. 2×16 GB @6000 MT/s kits remain almost 4x higher than in July 2025 in Germany in particular. Admittedly, there have been a few… Corrections following Google’s TurboQuant announcement, but nothing that has brought prices down in any lasting way!
In the meantime, if Samsung is posting such profits, the situation at Micron or SK Hynix must be similar, as all three companies work in the same sector and are benefiting from the same current economic climate.
