Samsung set to retake No. 1 DRAM spot from SK hynix with massive earnings rebound and surging memory prices

According to industry sources contacted by Yonhap News Agency, Samsung has earned more than 18 trillion won (US$12.2 billion) in operating profits in Q4 2025. The majority of the income will be accounted for by the company’s Device Solutions (DS), which operates the memory and foundry lines. The division is expected to have generated more than 15 trillion won, a rise of 422 percent year-to-year.

The massive profit should return Samsung to the top of the DRAM revenue chart, a position SK hynix took in Q1 2025 after a 33-year stretch. The latter took advantage of the AI boom to grow its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips business.

DRAM prices surge sixfold since March

Yonhap reports that Samsung’s return to the top of the heap was driven by rising DRAM prices. The frenetic build-out of AI infrastructure, including data centers, is pushing memory prices to new heights. Samsung, however, is also working on bringing its HBM technology on par with SK hynix’s offering.

The average price of 8 GB DDR4 crossed the $8 mark in November, a 15.7 percent jump from the preceding month. The rise is steeper from March’s $1.35 levels and is expected to increase by up to 50 percent between Q3 and Q4.