Third-quarter operating profit surged 783% from a year earlier to a record 107.4 trillion won, with semiconductors generating almost all of the total, Samsung Electronics said.
The company also announced a 30 trillion won cash dividend, but left details of share buybacks and cancellations until January 2027. Rival SK hynix approved additional buybacks alongside its own record earnings.
The companies’ announcements featured on Arirang News’ Weekly Focus, published Oct. 31. The earnings and payout figures came from the companies’ own announcements.
Samsung released its results on Thursday, following SK hynix on Wednesday. Samsung’s revenue rose 127% from a year earlier to 195.3 trillion won, its fourth consecutive quarterly record for both sales and profit.
Semiconductors accounted for more than 99% of Samsung’s operating profit. Its quarterly operating profit was the highest among technology companies.
SK hynix reported operating profit of 83.3 trillion won, up 632% from a year earlier, and an operating margin near 80%. That margin measures operating profit as a share of revenue.
The company’s revenue exceeded 104.6 trillion won, crossing 100 trillion won for the first time. Its operating profit ranked third among technology companies, behind Samsung and Nvidia and ahead of Microsoft, Alphabet and Apple.
Both chipmakers linked their earnings to growing demand from artificial intelligence data centres for advanced memory and enterprise solid-state drives, which store data.
SK hynix pledged about 100 trillion won in annual shareholder returns. Its third-quarter dividend of 20,000 won a share included a special payout of 10,000 won linked to Kioxia.
The company also approved another 20 trillion won in share buybacks, with 10 trillion won earmarked for cancellation. Cancelling repurchased shares reduces the number of shares outstanding.
Samsung will pay its cash dividend on Nov. 27. Holders of common and preferred shares will each receive 4,601 won a share, combining a regular dividend of 376 won with a special payout of 4,225 won.
The company kept its full-year shareholder return target at 90 trillion to 110 trillion won. After 35 trillion won already confirmed this year, that leaves 55 trillion to 75 trillion won to allocate.
The companies together account for roughly half the market value of South Korea’s Kospi stock index. Their combined annual dividends and share cancellations total nearly 200 trillion won.
Semiconductor exports reached a record $60.3 billion in September, accounting for half of total exports, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said.
Third-quarter gross domestic product grew 1% from the previous quarter, helped by a 4.1% increase in investment in facilities led by chips, the Bank of Korea said.
The chipmakers expect memory demand to exceed supply well into 2027 as generative artificial intelligence spreads and production of next-generation memory expands. SK hynix said its memory supplies are fully sold out through the end of 2029.
