Samsung Electronics announced its preliminary earnings guidance for the first quarter of 2026 on April 7, 2026, projecting an operating profit of 57.2 trillion won (approximately $37.9 billion) and sales of 133 trillion won.

This represents a significant year-on-year increase: operating profit grew by 755% compared to the first quarter of 2025, while sales increased by 68%. These figures mark a historic milestone for the company—first-quarter sales exceeded 100 trillion won for the first time, and operating profit surpassed 50 trillion won for the first time. Notably, the operating profit for the first quarter alone exceeded Samsung's full-year 2025 operating profit of 43.6 trillion won.

The performance guidance significantly exceeded analysts' general expectations (sales around 117 trillion won, operating profit around 38.1 trillion won), thus being described as a "super surprise."

The strong performance was primarily driven by explosive demand for memory chips amid the booming development of artificial intelligence. Highlights include:

Mass production and shipment of the sixth-generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM4).

Significant price increases for traditional DRAM used in servers, PCs, and mobile devices.

Long-term supply agreements signed with major tech companies, prioritizing secure access and including minimum price commitments (reportedly, second-quarter DRAM contract prices rose over 30% compared to the first quarter).

The semiconductor business (Device Solutions Division) is expected to be the main contributor, potentially bringing in over 42 trillion won in operating profit. In contrast, the Mobile eXperience (MX) Division's performance may be mixed—benefiting from the launch of the Galaxy S26 series but facing pressure from rising memory costs, with operating profit expected to nearly halve to around 2 trillion won. However, investors outside South Korea can only gain indirect exposure through $ISHRS MSCI S Korea Capped(EWY.US)$Roundhill Memory ETF(DRAM.US) and $XL2CSOPSMSN(07747.HK).