Sam Altman visited Samsung days after its record $80.5 billion quarter; its phone business lost money
Sam Altman spent Saturday with about 50 Samsung executives in Yongin, days after Samsung posted KRW 107.4 trillion in quarterly operating profit, the first above KRW 100 trillion in tech history. The stock still trades 36% below its high: the fight is over whether memory is a franchise or one more commodity cycle.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
The buyer of the shortage visited the sellers
Sam Altman, OpenAI's$500B — OpenAI, private, latest valuation $500B chief executive, flew into Seoul late on Friday and spent Saturday morning with about 50 Samsung−3.02% — Samsung, down 3.02 percent today executives at the group's training center in Yongin, south of Seoul 12. He lunched afterwards with SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won, whose chipmaker SK Hynix−7.62% — SK Hynix, down 7.62 percent today supplies most of the AI industry's high-bandwidth memory 3.
Two days earlier, Altman had called it "quite terrible" that the world's limited DRAM sits in home computers used 5% of the time, and said memory makers would each soon make about $100 billion of free cash flow a year 2. Samsung has shipped memory for OpenAI's Stargate data centers since an October 2025 agreement; The Inference noted on October 4 that Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron−4.83% — Micron, down 4.83 percent today make more than 90% of the world's memory 24.
One division earned the record, and phones paid the bill
Samsung's third quarter delivered KRW 195.3 trillion ($146 billion) of revenue and KRW 107.4 trillion ($80.5 billion) of operating profit, the first technology company past KRW 100 trillion in a quarter, Samsung said 56.
The Device Solutions division, which makes memory, earned KRW 106.5 trillion of that on KRW 147.1 trillion of sales; the phone and networks businesses lost KRW 0.6 trillion as component costs climbed 5. A Samsung memory executive told investors the company's 2027 supply of HBM4, the high-bandwidth memory stacked beside AI processors, is "already sold out at an agreed target price" 7.
Samsung's record quarter was one division: memory earned KRW 106.5 trillion and phones lost KRW 0.6 trillion
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Memory (Device Solutions) | KRW 106.5tn |
| Display | KRW 1.1tn |
| Phones and networks | -KRW 0.6tn |
The bill reaches the phone buyer. Mobile DRAM prices were on course to double this year and Samsung raised Galaxy foldable prices mid-cycle 8; Intel−29.36% — Intel, down 29.36 percent today now blames memory shortages for PC units falling about 12% in 2026 9.
The market prices a cycle while the contracts build a franchise
The record did not hold the stock. Samsung fell 6% on results day after net profit missed estimates 7 and closed 3.02% lower on Friday, as Seoul's exchange halted program trading for the first time in 11 sessions 10. At the October 29 close, memory stocks sat 23% to 60% below their 2026 highs, Samsung 36% among them 11.
Elon Musk wrote on October 15 that "China will be making a LOT of RAM in 2028" 12, Counterpoint data shared by Chamath Palihapitiya puts ChangXin−2.50% — ChangXin, down 2.50 percent today Memory at 10% of global DRAM revenue, from 4% a year earlier, and new fabs land from 2027 through 2029 11.
Record profits, stocks off their peaks: memory names sit 23% to 60% below 2026 highs
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Micron | 23% |
| Samsung | 36% |
| SanDisk | 43% |
| SK Hynix | 48% |
| Kioxia | 60% |
The contracts argue back
The other camp holds signatures. SanDisk's−13.08% — SanDisk's, down 13.08 percent today revenue rose 378% in a year to $11.03 billion, with two-thirds of its fiscal 2028 flash already committed under long-term agreements 814. SK Hynix, at a KRW 83.3 trillion quarterly profit and an 80% margin, has 14 customers covering more than half its 2027 and 2028 capacity and expects shortage through 2030 13.
Samsung's own filing says AI memory demand will far exceed industry supply in 2027 5. Two dates decide it: Samsung's board meets in late January to set the remaining KRW 55 to 75 trillion of 2026 shareholder returns 7, and Qualcomm−10.68% — Qualcomm, down 10.68 percent today reports on November 4, where a December-quarter guide near $10.6 billion would confirm phones have bottomed 9.
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