Samsung Electronics has secured long-term agreements covering about 80 percent of its planned memory-chip production for 2027, KB Securities estimated in a report released in South Korea on 20 October, The Korea Herald reported. The brokerage forecasts operating profit of 555 trillion won ($417.6 billion) in 2027, up 51 percent from an estimated 367 trillion won in 2026.
Key points
- KB Securities estimates five-year agreements cover 70 percent of Samsung’s planned conventional DRAM and NAND flash output for 2027.
- The brokerage believes contracts also cover all of Samsung’s planned 2027 high-bandwidth memory production.
- KB expects average HBM selling prices to rise 100 to 150 percent in 2027 and HBM4’s share of HBM revenue to reach 80 percent.
- Samsung is scheduled to publish detailed third-quarter earnings on 29 October.
Five-year agreements cover conventional memory
KB Securities estimates that five-year agreements with global technology companies cover 70 percent of Samsung’s conventional DRAM and NAND flash production planned for 2027. Those chips form one part of the brokerage’s broader estimate of contracted memory output. The other is high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, which supplies data to AI accelerators.
Contracts are believed to cover Samsung’s entire planned HBM output for 2027, chiefly the HBM4 generation, Seoul Economic Daily reported, citing KB Securities. The agreements leave an estimated 20 percent of Samsung’s total planned memory production for that year outside the contracted volume.
Kim Dong-won, head of research at KB Securities, said competition among large cloud companies continues for that remaining production. His assessment concerns Samsung’s planned 2027 output, rather than chips already manufactured or delivered.
KB Securities forecasts higher HBM4 revenue
KB Securities expects Samsung’s average HBM selling price to rise 100 to 150 percent in 2027, driven by more sales of HBM4. The brokerage projects that HBM4 will account for 80 percent of Samsung’s HBM revenue next year, against 40 percent this year. Its profit forecast therefore rests on both contracted production and the prices achieved for the memory Samsung sells.
The brokerage also expects DRAM prices in the first quarter of 2027 to increase by a double-digit percentage from the preceding quarter, Seoul Economic Daily reported. KB Securities said the growing share of HBM4, which it described as the highest-priced HBM generation, would lift overall DRAM prices from that quarter.
For 2026, KB Securities estimates Samsung’s operating profit at 367 trillion won, an increase of 742 percent from the previous year. Kim said short-term share-price volatility could increase with macroeconomic conditions, while maintaining the brokerage’s forecast for profit growth next year.
Micron and SK hynix secure future output
Other memory makers have described longer-term customer commitments. Micron chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra said on the US chipmaker’s 30 September earnings call that more than 75 percent of its planned 2027 output had been committed. He also projected tight supply through 2028 and said customers were negotiating allocations for later years, The Korea Herald reported.
SK hynix said in July that it had finalised long-term agreements with around 10 major customers. The company cited growth in demand for both AI memory and conventional memory. Unlike KB Securities’ estimate for Samsung, Micron’s figure came from its chief executive and SK hynix described its own customer agreements.
Samsung’s preliminary results, released on 8 October, put third-quarter operating profit at 107.4 trillion won, nearly nine times the year-earlier level, on revenue of 195 trillion won. AI Affairs reported Samsung’s projected 783 percent profit increase when the preliminary figures were released.
Samsung Electronics is scheduled to release its detailed third-quarter earnings on 29 October, The Korea Herald reported.
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