Samsung posts a record Q4 profit as AI server demand fuels a memory boom. DRAM and NAND lift margins, while smartphones face higher costs as spec upgrades slow.
© A. Krivonosov
Samsung closed the fourth quarter with record-breaking numbers: operating profit reached about 20 trillion won, or roughly $15 billion. It’s the highest quarterly result not only in the company’s history, but across South Korea’s corporate sector. And the main engine of that success wasn’t smartphones.
The bulk of profit came from Samsung’s semiconductor arm — specifically memory. The demand surge is rooted not in mobile devices, but in AI servers that need vast amounts of fast, dependable DRAM and NAND. As AI reshapes the market, memory stops being a routine component and turns into critical infrastructure, where price recedes into the background.
For chipmakers, that shift means wider margins and a clear tilt toward server customers. The same manufacturing capacity brings in far more when it’s directed at data centers than at the smartphone market. Unsurprisingly, production priorities follow the money and the security of long-term contracts.
Smartphones, meanwhile, are in a tight spot. Rising memory prices hit one of the core cost lines, and RAM and storage sizes directly shape how devices are perceived. Manufacturers are forced to choose between slimmer margins, higher retail prices, or slowing the pace of spec upgrades — a trade-off that naturally makes the market more cautious.
The irony is that Samsung both benefits and feels the squeeze. Its semiconductor business is minting record sums, even as its mobile division runs into the same headwinds as competitors. Taken together, this is a telling sign that the era of easy wins driven by the spec race is drawing to a close.