While memory shortages have been a problem for almost everyone, Samsung and other businesses have started to see revenue figures that would've never been anticipated a few years ago.
Samsung's DRAM Business Alone Has Managed To Achieve $37 Billion In Q1, And The Growth Won't Stop Here
DRAM has become a commodity in the AI industry, in high demand, and suppliers like Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron are unable to meet customer requirements, driving a wider shortage across the supply chain. With that, a report by Counterpoint Research has talked about Samsung's Q1 financial results, but the interesting parallel drawn by them was the fact that the Korean giant's operating revenue was actually higher than the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, TSMC, and Meta, showing a clear indication that the memory supercycle has come in to boost the company's business.
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 significant portion of Samsung's revenue currently comes from its DRAM business, which has recently seen strong customer adoption. When we talk about general-purpose DRAM products like LPDDR and DDR, they are in high demand from hyperscalers and neoclouds, as memory has become a crucial part of wider infrastructure deployments. At the same time, Samsung's HBM segment and its recent breakthroughs with HBM3E and HBM4 have led the way toward adoption in modern architectures like AMD's Instinct MI355X and NVIDIA's Vera Rubin.
Counterpoint Research says that Samsung's DRAM division alone will benefit significantly from the rise in DRAM pricing, and that the demand will also increase in parallel, which means that the reported Q1 figures are expected to increase moving ahead. In terms of production volume, Samsung is known to have access to one of the world's largest production lines, putting the Korean giant in a prime position to capitalize on both enterprise and consumer requirements. There has been concern about the sustainability of this demand, but Samsung is also addressing it by signing up to 5-year LTAs with hyperscalers.
The scale of demand witnessed by DRAM manufacturers is simply shocking, and this is now translating into meaningful revenue for those involved in the supercycle. It would be interesting to see how the memory industry evolves going forward, since right now it's all about which entity has capacity onboard.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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