Samsung's third quarter operating profit is at record level

Samsung Electronics posted a leading operating profit of 107.4 trillion won ($80.2 billion) in the third quarter, as strong demand for artificial intelligence supported its chip business.

The company's operating profit exceeded 100 trillion won for the first time in its history.

The company's third quarter operating profit expectation indicated an increase of 782 percent compared to the same period last year. Revenue is expected to rise approximately 127 percent on an annual basis, to approximately 195 trillion won.

By contrast, Samsung shares fell 0.7 percent on Thursday morning.

eToro Asia-Pacific Chief Analyst Josh Gilbert said, "Samsung made record profits but still fell short of expectations. This shows how high expectations the artificial intelligence investment theme creates."

Gilbert stated that the fundamental outlook for the chip industry is strong as artificial intelligence investments increase demand for memory chips and supply remains tight. He said that the widespread use of artificial intelligence agents, which can consume much more memory compared to chatbots that answer a single question, supports the demand.