Surging demand, record profits and global rivals eclipsed; Samsung’s $38.9bn Q1 earnings highlight its memory dominance and raise questions about sustaining long-term leadership.
Samsung Electronics has posted its highest-ever quarterly results, with preliminary figures for Q1 2026 showing revenue of $90.8 billion (KRW 133 trillion) and operating profit of $38.9 billion (KRW 57.2 trillion). The performance outpaces recent earnings reported by most global technology firms.
According to data from Counterpoint Research, Samsung retained its position as the world’s leading memory supplier, generating $50.4 billion in revenue from this segment. Both DRAM and NAND achieved record highs of $37 billion and $13.4 billion, respectively, marking a 2.7-fold increase over the previous peak in 2018.
Among the market leaders, Samsung’s Q1 operating income of $38.9 billion places it ahead of Alphabet ($35.9 billion), Meta ($24.7 billion), Microsoft ($20.6 billion) and TSMC ($18.2 billion) from Q4 2025.
Only Apple ($50.8 billion) and Aramco ($41.3 billion) reported higher figures in the previous quarter, reflecting Samsung’s rise to near the top tier of global profitability.
Strong demand relative to supply has driven memory prices higher, with mobile segments expected to rise by more than 80% and PC segments by over 50% in Q2. Analysts project Samsung’s earnings will continue to climb through 2026, supported by favourable market conditions.
“Robust demand across all sectors is driving high profitability in conventional DRAM, a trend likely to persist until 2027 when significant supply expansions are projected to materialise,” noted Jeongku Choi, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint.
She added further, “In the HBM4 segment, Samsung has solidified its leadership by adopting 1c-nm process-based core dies and 4nm foundry-based base dies, putting the company in an advantageous position in the developing HBM4e market.”
Looking ahead, Choi added, “The memory industry’s paradigm is shifting from mass production of commodity products to a customer-integrated business model. Custom HBM will become the mainstream starting with the next generation, and even in conventional DRAM, major clients are increasingly seeking to secure optimised volumes stably through long-term agreements (LTAs).”
“Samsung must not become complacent with its current success; instead, it must focus all efforts on preventing the loss of key talent and investing in next-generation technologies to maintain its ‘Super Gap’ leadership,” she concluded.
