---
title: "Sam Altman visited Samsung days after its record $80.5 billion quarter; its phone business lost money"
description: "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."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Chips"
published: 2026-10-31T14:08:06.391Z
modified: 2026-10-31T14:08:06.391Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/sam-altman-visited-samsung-days-after-its-record-80-5-billion-quarter-its-phone-business-lost-money
language: en
keywords: "Samsung, OpenAI, Memory Chips, Earnings, HBM"
---

# 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.

## The buyer of the shortage visited the sellers

[Sam Altman](https://theinference.org/markets/people/sam-altman), [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai)'s chief executive, flew into Seoul late on Friday and spent Saturday morning with about 50 [Samsung](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/samsung) executives at the group's training center in Yongin, south of Seoul [1][2]. He lunched afterwards with SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won, whose chipmaker [SK Hynix](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/sk-hynix) 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](https://thenextweb.com/news/sam-altman-dram-samsung-presidents-cheeky-pint); [The Inference](https://theinference.org/article/bull-builds-europe-s-supercomputers-at-home-then-pays-samsung-sk-hynix-and-micron-for-the-memory) noted on October 4 that Samsung, SK Hynix and [Micron](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/micron) [make more than 90% of the world's memory](https://theinference.org/article/bull-builds-europe-s-supercomputers-at-home-then-pays-samsung-sk-hynix-and-micron-for-the-memory) [2][4].

## 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](https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_announces_another_recordbreaking_quarter_driven_by_its_memory_business-news-75291.php), the first technology company past KRW 100 trillion in a quarter, Samsung said [5][6].

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](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/samsung-posts-record-quarterly-profit-014019876.html)" [7].

*Chart: **Samsung's record quarter was one division: memory earned KRW 106.5 trillion and phones lost KRW 0.6 trillion** Bar chart of Samsung Q3 2026 operating profit by division: memory KRW 106.5 trillion, display KRW 1.1 trillion, phones and networks a loss of KRW 0.6 trillion*

*Operating profit by division, July to September 2026. Source: Samsung Q3 2026 results [5][6]. [5][6]*

The bill reaches the phone buyer. Mobile DRAM prices were [on course to double this year](https://www.androidheadlines.com/2026/10/phone-makers-are-fighting-for-leftover-storage-as-ai-buys-up-sandisks-supply.html) and Samsung raised Galaxy foldable prices mid-cycle [8]; [Intel](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/intel) now blames memory shortages for [PC units falling about 12% in 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/qualcomm-stock-fell-11-day-064448014.html) [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](https://www.benzinga.com/markets/tech/26/10/62729331/sk-hynix-samsung-tumble-in-south-korea-as-wall-streets-ai-sell-off-rattles-asian-markets-kospi-triggers-rare-sell-side-trading-halt) [10]. At the October 29 close, memory stocks sat 23% to 60% below their 2026 highs, Samsung 36% among them [11].

[Elon Musk](https://theinference.org/markets/people/elon-musk) wrote on October 15 that ["China will be making a LOT of RAM in 2028"](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/elon-musk-china-ram-warning-033004982.html) [12], Counterpoint data shared by [Chamath Palihapitiya](https://theinference.org/markets/people/chamath-palihapitiya) puts [ChangXin](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/cxmt) Memory at 10% of global DRAM revenue, from 4% a year earlier, and new fabs land from 2027 through 2029 [11].

*Chart: **Record profits, stocks off their peaks: memory names sit 23% to 60% below 2026 highs** Bar chart ranking memory stocks by decline from 2026 highs: Micron 23%, Samsung 36%, SanDisk 43%, SK Hynix 48%, Kioxia 60%*

*Decline from 2026 highs at the October 29 close, per a Social Capital chart shared by Chamath Palihapitiya. Source: Benzinga via TradingView [11]. [11]*

## The contracts argue back

The other camp holds signatures. [SanDisk's](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/sandisk) revenue rose 378% in a year to $11.03 billion, with [two-thirds of its fiscal 2028 flash already committed under long-term agreements](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/sandisk-corp-sndk-q1-2027-071200141.html) [8][14]. 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](https://thenextweb.com/news/sk-hynix-q3-2026-record-profit-memory-shortage-2030) and expects shortage through 2030 [13].

Samsung's own filing says [AI memory demand will far exceed industry supply in 2027](https://propakistani.pk/2026/10/31/samsung-is-making-another-record-breaking-profit-quarter-but-not-from-selling-phones/) [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](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/qualcomm) reports on November 4, where a December-quarter guide near $10.6 billion would confirm phones have bottomed [9].

## Takeaway

Altman courted Samsung and SK Hynix days after Samsung's record KRW 107.4 trillion quarter, all of it from memory while phones lost money; the stock's 36% gap to its high prices a cycle, the sold-out 2027 contracts argue a franchise, and Qualcomm's November 4 guide tells you which phone story to believe.

## Sources

1. [Bloomberg, "OpenAI's Altman Meets Samsung Executives as Memory Crunch Deepens", 31 October 2026](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-31/openai-sam-altman-samsung-executives-memory-crunch-deepens)
2. [The Next Web, "Sam Altman meets Samsung's presidents days after his DRAM remark", 31 October 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/sam-altman-dram-samsung-presidents-cheeky-pint)
3. [The Chosun Ilbo via MSN, "SK Group chairman meets OpenAI CEO for AI talks", 31 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-xl/technology/tech-companies/sk-chairman-meets-openai-ceo-on-ai-cooperation/ar-AA2gsH9D)
4. [The Inference, "Bull builds Europe's supercomputers at home, then pays Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron for the memory", 4 October 2026](https://theinference.org/article/bull-builds-europe-s-supercomputers-at-home-then-pays-samsung-sk-hynix-and-micron-for-the-memory)
5. [ProPakistani, "Samsung Is Making Another Record-breaking Profit Quarter, but Not From Selling Phones", 31 October 2026](https://propakistani.pk/2026/10/31/samsung-is-making-another-record-breaking-profit-quarter-but-not-from-selling-phones/)
6. [GSMArena, "Samsung announces another record-breaking quarter, driven by its memory business", 30 October 2026](https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_announces_another_recordbreaking_quarter_driven_by_its_memory_business-news-75291.php)
7. [Investing.com via Yahoo Finance, "Samsung posts record Q3 earnings; shares slide as net profit misses estimates", 28 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/samsung-posts-record-quarterly-profit-014019876.html)
8. [Android Headlines, "Phone Makers Are Fighting for Leftover Storage as AI Buys Up SanDisk's Supply", 31 October 2026](https://www.androidheadlines.com/2026/10/phone-makers-are-fighting-for-leftover-storage-as-ai-buys-up-sandisks-supply.html)
9. [Yahoo Finance (TIKR), "Qualcomm Stock Fell 11% in a Day on Intel's PC Warning. Here's Why November 4 Tests Its Claim That Phones Have Bottomed", 31 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/qualcomm-stock-fell-11-day-064448014.html)
10. [Benzinga, "SK Hynix, Samsung Tumble in South Korea as Wall Street's AI Sell-Off Rattles Asian Markets; KOSPI Triggers Rare Sell-Side Trading Halt", 31 October 2026](https://www.benzinga.com/markets/tech/26/10/62729331/sk-hynix-samsung-tumble-in-south-korea-as-wall-streets-ai-sell-off-rattles-asian-markets-kospi-triggers-rare-sell-side-trading-halt)
11. [TradingView (Benzinga), "Micron, SanDisk Stocks Remain Far Below Highs Despite 'Exploding' Memory Profits, Chamath Palihapitiya Asks Why", 29 October 2026](https://www.tradingview.com/news/benzinga:685c2a12f094b:0-micron-sandisk-stocks-remain-far-below-highs-despite-exploding-memory-profits-chamath-palihapitiya-asks-why/)
12. [Benzinga via Yahoo Finance, "Elon Musk's China RAM Warning Raises Questions for Samsung, SK Hynix", 16 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/elon-musk-china-ram-warning-033004982.html)
13. [The Next Web, "SK Hynix profit jumps 632% as it says memory shortage will last to 2030", 28 October 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/sk-hynix-q3-2026-record-profit-memory-shortage-2030)
14. [GuruFocus via Yahoo Finance, "SanDisk Corp (SNDK) Q1 2027 Earnings Call Highlights: Revenue Surges 378% as Data Center Demand...", 30 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/sandisk-corp-sndk-q1-2027-071200141.html)


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Sam Altman visited Samsung days after its record $80.5 billion quarter; its phone business lost money — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/sam-altman-visited-samsung-days-after-its-record-80-5-billion-quarter-its-phone-business-lost-money