Samsung’s Memory Division Surpasses Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft in Profitability, Emerging as a Key Player in the AI Race

Despite ongoing memory shortages impacting various sectors, Samsung has reported unexpectedly strong revenue figures, marking a significant turnaround for the company’s financial performance in recent years.

Samsung’s DRAM Business Achieves Impressive $37 Billion in Q1: Growth Expected to Continue

According to a recent report by Counterpoint Research, Samsung’s Q1 performance has been remarkable, revealing that their operating revenue surpasses that of industry giants like Amazon, Microsoft, TSMC, and Meta. This trend underscores the dramatic boost provided by the current memory supercycle, which has propelled Samsung’s business to new heights.

Samsung Electronics ranked first in memory revenue for the first quarter of 2026 with $50.4 billion. With $37 billion in DRAM and $13.4 billion in NAND, both sectors recorded all-time high revenues. Compared to the previous cycle, this represents a 167% increase from the peak of $18.9 billion in the third quarter of 2018.

– Counterpoint Research

A large share of Samsung’s revenue stems from its DRAM segment, which has recently seen considerable growth in customer adoption. General-purpose DRAM products, including LPDDR and DDR, are now in high demand from hyperscalers and neoclouds, as memory plays a critical role in broader infrastructure projects. Moreover, Samsung’s advancements in High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), particularly through innovations like HBM3E and HBM4, have positioned the company at the forefront of modern technology architectures such as AMD’s Instinct MI355X and NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin.

A bar chart titled 'Big Tech Operating Income (Billion $)' shows Apple leading with $50.8 billion in 4Q 2025, while Samsung follows at $38.9 billion in 1Q 2026.

Counterpoint Research notes that Samsung’s DRAM division is expected to gain significantly from rising DRAM prices, with demand likely to increase accordingly. Notably, Samsung operates one of the largest production lines globally, giving the company an advantageous position to meet both enterprise and consumer demands. While concerns regarding demand sustainability persist, Samsung is proactively engaging with hyperscalers through long-term agreements spanning five years.

The surge in demand experienced by DRAM manufacturers is unprecedented, translating into substantial revenue for companies participating in the memory supercycle. Observing the future of the memory industry will be crucial as the focus shifts to which entities can sustain production capacity.

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