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Samsung Memory Drives Record Q2 Profit, While Foundry’s Growth Target Trails TSMC’s Momentum

Samsung’s memory unit drove record Q2 performance, while its Foundry Business reported improvement and targeted double-digit H2 growth. TSMC’s faster recent revenue signal is company-wide, not a direct foundry comparison.
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Samsung Electronics’ Memory Business set quarterly records in Q2 2026 and helped lift the company to KRW 89.5 trillion in operating profit. Its Foundry Business also improved, but Samsung reported no separate Foundry revenue figure and offered only a double-digit growth target for the second half. TSMC, by contrast, reported September revenue growth of 54.6% year over year across the company. That points to stronger recent momentum at TSMC, but it is not a like-for-like comparison between the two foundry businesses.

Why is Samsung making record profits?

Samsung reported consolidated Q2 2026 revenue of KRW 171.5 trillion and operating profit of KRW 89.5 trillion. Within those company-wide results, its Memory Business achieved all-time highs in quarterly revenue and operating profit, according to Samsung’s July 30 results release.

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Samsung attributed the memory record to AI demand, particularly demand for server products, while noting that capacity was limited and industry prices were higher. The combination matters: strong demand supported sales, while constrained supply and higher prices contributed to the favorable market conditions. Samsung’s release does not give a standalone Memory operating-profit figure here that would let readers calculate how much of the company’s KRW 89.5 trillion operating profit came from memory.

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How much of Samsung’s profit comes from memory chips?

The cited Q2 release establishes that Memory Business operating profit reached a quarterly record, but it does not state an amount in the figures available for this comparison. The KRW 89.5 trillion figure is Samsung Electronics’ consolidated operating profit, not memory profit. It therefore cannot be treated as the memory segment’s contribution.

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Is Samsung Foundry catching up with TSMC?

Samsung said Foundry earnings improved significantly before incentive-related provisions, citing demand for HBM base dies and strong orders from U.S. customers. It also set a target of double-digit Foundry revenue growth in the second half of 2026. These are a qualitative update and a management target—not a reported Foundry revenue result. Samsung’s Q2 release does not state a separate Foundry revenue or operating-profit amount, so it does not establish that the business was profitable or permit a direct growth-rate comparison with TSMC.

TSMC’s latest monthly report offered a more concrete company-wide growth signal: September 2026 consolidated revenue was NT$511.86 billion, up 54.6% year over year and down 0.6% from August. For January through September, consolidated revenue totaled NT$3,898.73 billion, 41.1% higher year over year. These figures are from TSMC’s October 8 revenue report; they cover the whole company, not its foundry business alone.

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So “trails” is best read directionally: TSMC has reported strong, recent company-wide sales growth, while Samsung has disclosed a second-half Foundry growth target without a segment revenue baseline or reported outcome. TSMC’s monthly and year-to-date figures are not comparable to Samsung’s H2 target as a matched-period foundry growth calculation.

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What do the latest quarterly results show?

The completed Q2 results allow a company-wide comparison, but not a segment-to-segment one. Samsung’s figures are in Korean won and TSMC’s are in U.S. dollars; the scopes differ in what they reveal about memory and foundry operations.

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Company and period Reported revenue Operating result What the figure covers
Samsung Electronics, Q2 2026; announced July 30 KRW 171.5 trillion KRW 89.5 trillion operating profit Consolidated company results; Memory set quarterly revenue and operating-profit records, but no separate segment amount is given here.
TSMC, Q2 2026; announced July 16 US$40.20 billion net revenue 60.3% operating margin TSMC company results; the figure is not a Samsung Foundry comparison.

TSMC also guided to Q3 revenue of US$44.6–45.8 billion in its July 2026 Q2 outlook. That was guidance, not a finalized Q3 result. A margin is not an operating-profit amount, and neither company-wide quarterly figures nor different currencies establish which company’s foundry segment grew faster.

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What did Samsung forecast for Q3?

On October 8, Samsung issued Q3 2026 earnings guidance estimating consolidated sales of KRW 194–196 trillion and operating profit of KRW 107.3–107.5 trillion. These are estimates, not finalized results, and refer to the whole company rather than the Foundry Business specifically. Samsung’s broader outlook said it expected H2 demand to remain strong for server DRAM, eSSDs, and HBM, supported by AI infrastructure spending and wider adoption of agentic AI. It also expected supply constraints to continue despite production increases and identified HBM4, DDR5, and SOCAMM2 as high-value products. Those expectations are Samsung’s own outlook, not independent forecasts. The guidance was published by Samsung on October 8.

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How fast is TSMC growing?

The answer depends on the period and measure. TSMC’s September 2026 consolidated revenue rose 54.6% year over year, while January–September revenue rose 41.1% year over year. Its Q2 2026 reported revenue was US$40.20 billion, and its Q3 revenue outlook was US$44.6–45.8 billion. The first two growth rates are actual company-wide sales comparisons; the Q3 range is a forecast. None is a reported same-period growth rate for TSMC’s foundry segment that can be directly set against Samsung Foundry.

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Q3 results were not finalized as of October 9, 2026. TSMC’s Q3 results conference was scheduled for October 15, and Samsung’s earnings call for October 29, according to the companies’ IR calendar and TSMC event schedule. Until those results are reported, the clearest distinction is between Samsung’s record memory performance and Foundry target on one side, and TSMC’s reported company-wide revenue growth on the other.

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