Samsung and SK hynix face results week after steep October slide

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, Korea’s two largest chipmakers, release their third-quarter results this week, Yonhap reported on Oct 25. SK hynix goes first, with a conference call on Oct 28 at 09:00 KST (Korea Standard Time), according to its filing. Samsung’s call follows on Oct 29 at 10:00 KST, its own filing shows.

Both stocks head into the reports after a hard month. Between Oct 1 and Oct 23, SK hynix shares lost 30.33% and Samsung shares lost 21.92%. The slide came even though Samsung had already published an early estimate showing its highest quarterly operating profit in at least six quarters.

JoongAng Daily reported that the two companies are expected to earn a combined US$139 billion in profit for the quarter, with AI chips doing much of the work. That number is the newspaper’s expectation. Neither company has published it.

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Samsung’s estimate is already public

Samsung gives an early estimate of sales and operating profit weeks before its full report, a two-step way of reporting that SK hynix does not follow. The preliminary consolidated figures, filed Oct 8, put third-quarter operating profit at 107.4 trillion won (about US$81.1 billion). Revenue came to 195 trillion won (about US$147.2 billion).

Those numbers are large against Samsung’s recent past. Operating profit was 20.01% above the second quarter and 782.5% above the same quarter of 2025. Revenue grew 13.7% from the quarter before and 126.59% from a year earlier. The Oct 29 call covers the complete quarter behind the estimate.

SK hynix’s last reported quarter

For SK hynix, the most recent figures are for the second quarter, filed Aug 14. Revenue reached 79.32 trillion won (about US$59.9 billion) and operating profit 60.54 trillion won (about US$45.7 billion). Operating profit rose 60.97% from the first quarter and 557.15% from a year earlier. It was also the company’s highest in at least six quarters. Its third-quarter numbers are due on Oct 28.

Losses of a fifth and nearly a third

Samsung ended the Oct 23 session, the last before the reporting week, at 215,500 won (US$162.69), up 0.47% on the day. SK hynix closed the same session at 1,277,000 won (US$964.06). Much of the damage came in mid-October, when the pair posted their worst week since 2008.

For holders counting in dollars, the losses were somewhat smaller. Measured in US currency, Samsung fell 19.93% and SK hynix 28.56% from Oct 1 to Oct 23. Over that span the won firmed against the dollar, from 1,358.4 to 1,324.6 per dollar.

Samsung’s size makes its move a market event in itself. Its market value stood at 1,259.9 trillion won (about US$951.1 billion) on Oct 23, or 29.84% of the total value of the KOSPI 200, the index of Korea’s 200 largest listed companies. Over the 20 sessions to that day, the stock was down 21.35%.

The wider KOSPI closed at 5,550.3 on Oct 23, up 0.3%. Foreign investors posted net selling of 977.8 billion won (about US$738 million) of KOSPI shares that day. That figure covers the whole market, not the two chipmakers alone; Pacific Tape explains how those flows work.

Export prices and Samsung’s repurchase

Korea’s DRAM export price index, set in US dollars with 2020 at 100, stood at 289.16 in September 2026. DRAM is the main memory chip in computers and servers. The index rose 2.26% from August and 247.72% from September 2025. It tracks the country’s DRAM exports as a whole, not the prices either company charges.

Samsung is also partway through a share repurchase worth 15 trillion won (about US$11.3 billion). The program covers 53,285,968 common shares and runs from Aug 24 to Nov 21, 2026. Samsung said the shares are intended for stock compensation for its employees.

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Information only, not investment advice.