Samsung’s flag is displayed next to Korea’s national flag at Samsung Electronics’ office in Seocho District, Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
Samsung Electronics reported a solid recovery in its 2025 earnings, posting new record highs with its quarterly operating profit and annual revenue.
The recovery came as its semiconductor business gained traction from soaring demand for memory chips driven by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), according to the company Thursday.
To further accelerate the current memory momentum, the company said it will begin mass shipments of high-bandwidth memory 4 (HBM4) next month and start customer sampling of next-generation HBM4E in the middle of this year. It also plans to achieve significant outcomes in its humanoid robot business this year.
Samsung Electronics said it posted an operating profit of 20.1 trillion won ($14.03 billion) and 93.8 trillion won in sales for the fourth quarter of 2025, marking a quarterly high.
Operating profit surged 209.17 percent from a year earlier, while sales jumped 23.82 percent.
On an annual basis, the company’s operating profit reached 43.6 trillion won and sales stood at 333.6 trillion won, representing year-on-year growth of 33.23 percent and 10.88 percent, respectively.
It was the highest annual revenue in the company’s history, but its operating profit fell behind that of SK hynix for the first time, as the rival posted 47.2 trillion won.
The strong performance was driven by brisk profitability at the company’s Device Solutions (DS) division amid skyrocketing global memory demand.
In the fourth quarter, the DS division posted a record quarterly operating profit of 16.4 trillion won and 44 trillion won in sales. Operating profit surged by 465.5 percent from 2.9 trillion won a year earlier.
The DS division posted disappointing numbers in the first half of last year due to sluggish results in its HBM business, with operating profit remaining at 1.1 trillion won in the first quarter and 400 billion won in the second quarter.
However, it recovered quickly in the second half of last year, as it began supplying HBM3E chips to Nvidia. Operating profit stood at 7 trillion won in the third quarter and more than doubled to 16.4 trillion won in the fourth quarter.
The ongoing upcycle in the global memory market has also played a significant role. Prices of legacy dynamic random-access memory surged 40 to 50 percent in the fourth quarter, while NAND flash prices continued to rise throughout last year. The foundry business is also believed to have significantly narrowed its losses as line utilization improved.
Samsung Electronics’ 12-high high-bandwidth memory 3E / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
During its earnings call, the company said its HBM sales for this year will likely achieve threefold growth from 2025, adding that “clients already hope to secure supply agreements for volumes in 2027 and beyond.”
“Based on customer feedback on performance, we are now mass-producing HBM4, and plan to begin shipments next month,” the company said. “We also plan to deliver HBM4E samples to customers in the middle of this year.”
The Device Experience division, which handles smartphones, home appliances and other electronic devices, posted an operating profit of 1.3 trillion won and 44.3 trillion won in revenue.
The smartphone business saw a decline in fourth-quarter shipments due to the fading impact of new model launches, but posted double-digit profitability for the full year. The TV business saw improved revenue compared to the previous quarter due to the stable sale of premium products.
Its subsidiary, Samsung Display, also made a solid contribution to Samsung Electronics’ recovery. Samsung Display posted an operating profit of 2 trillion won and 9.5 trillion won in sales, driven by increased smartphone panel demand from major customers.
Samsung Electronics also said during the earnings call that it “plans to deliver meaningful results in its humanoid robot business this year” as part of its future growth strategy. The comment signaled a push to accelerate the development of industrial robots through cooperation with its robotics subsidiary, Rainbow Robotics.
The company said it will continue investing in future growth areas including humanoid robots, heating and air conditioning, automotive electronics and medical technologies, while applying AI and digital twin technologies across its operations to enhance cost competitiveness.
A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical asset that helps reduce costs, save time and mitigate risk through simulations.
Samsung Electronics initially planned to make investments worth 47.4 trillion won in 2025, but its actual capital expenditure for last year reached 52.7 trillion won, with semiconductors accounting for 47.5 trillion won.