Samsung Electronics held KRW 214.8 trillion in cash and short-term financial assets at 30 September 2026, up KRW 24.8 trillion from KRW 190.0 trillion three months earlier, according to the company’s third-quarter 2026 earnings presentation. Chosun Biz and Seoul Economic Daily reported the figure on 8 and 9 November.
Net cash, which Samsung defines as cash minus debts, was KRW 197.6 trillion at 30 September, up from KRW 167.6 trillion at 30 June and KRW 91.8 trillion a year earlier, the presentation shows.
Business Pill · The Memory Wall
A short Business Engineer explainer on the memory wall. It teaches the general idea only and does not discuss Samsung Electronics.
The key insight: Samsung Electronics held KRW 214.8 trillion in cash and short-term financial assets at 30 September 2026, up KRW 24.8 trillion in the quarter, and KRW 197.6 trillion in net cash, its third-quarter presentation shows. The company expects full-year 2026 capital expenditure of approximately KRW 84.4 trillion and remaining 2026 shareholder returns of KRW 55 to 75 trillion, the release says.
Samsung reported KRW 195.3 trillion in third-quarter revenue and KRW 107.4 trillion in operating profit, and said the Memory Business set an all-time high for quarterly revenue and operating profit, according to its results release.
Cash flows from operating activities were KRW 98.6 trillion in the quarter. Investing outflows were KRW 35.2 trillion, including KRW 26.9 trillion of property, plant and equipment purchases, and financing outflows were KRW 24.0 trillion, including KRW 12.5 trillion of treasury stock acquisitions, the presentation shows.
Samsung Electronics cash and short-term financial assets and net cash at 30 September 2025, 30 June 2026 and 30 September 2026, in KRW trillion, from Samsung’s third-quarter 2026 earnings presentation. The KRW 24.8 trillion third-quarter increase equalling 1.24 to 2.48 times the KRW 10 to 20 trillion EUV order range Chosun Biz reported is our arithmetic.
Where It Is Going
Samsung said third-quarter capital expenditure reached KRW 29 trillion, and that full-year 2026 capital expenditure is expected at approximately KRW 84.4 trillion, including KRW 76.8 trillion for the Device Solutions division, the release says.
The company said the third-quarter cash dividend totals KRW 30 trillion, and that of the estimated KRW 90 to 110 trillion in total shareholder returns for 2026, with KRW 35 trillion already planned or completed, it anticipates the remaining funds to be KRW 55 to 75 trillion, according to the release.
Chosun Biz reported that SK hynix’s third-quarter cash assets reached 114.46 trillion won, and that Samsung’s cumulative research and development spending this year reached 41.7 trillion won.
By our arithmetic, Samsung’s KRW 24.8 trillion increase in cash in the third quarter alone equals 1.24 to 2.48 times that reported KRW 10 to 20 trillion order range. Net cash of KRW 197.6 trillion is 2.6 to 3.6 times the KRW 55 to 75 trillion of remaining 2026 shareholder returns, also our arithmetic.
As we read the presentation, the quarter’s KRW 98.6 trillion of operating cash flow covered KRW 26.9 trillion of equipment purchases and KRW 12.5 trillion of treasury stock purchases, and cash still rose by KRW 24.8 trillion.
As we read the numbers, that KRW 24.8 trillion increase alone equals 1.24 to 2.48 times the KRW 10 to 20 trillion EUV order range Chosun Biz reported, by our arithmetic.
As we read the release, Samsung is spending on both fronts at once: capital expenditure of approximately KRW 84.4 trillion this year and an estimated KRW 90 to 110 trillion in total 2026 shareholder returns.
“Strong demand momentum for servers led to higher market prices across all applications.”
Three Implications
FOR THE EUV RACE Chosun Biz reported that Samsung and SK hynix are each putting about KRW 10 to 20 trillion into ASML lithography orders.
FOR SHAREHOLDERS Samsung said it anticipates remaining 2026 shareholder returns of KRW 55 to 75 trillion, including a substantial share repurchase and cancellation program, the release says.
FOR SK HYNIX Chosun Biz reported that SK hynix’s third-quarter cash assets reached 114.46 trillion won.
The analysis says: “The job of any operator, investor, or builder is to know which layer they are operating inside and which layer the binding constraint is rotating toward next.”
As we read it, a memory maker converting record cash flow into lithography orders and capacity is spending where the constraint sits. The analysis does not discuss Samsung Electronics.
What Is Not Established
The documents we read do not say how much of the cash Samsung will spend on EUV tools, and the KRW 10 to 20 trillion order range is a Chosun Biz report, not a Samsung disclosure. We did not read the Seoul Economic Daily article itself.
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Samsung ended the third quarter with KRW 214.8 trillion in cash and short-term financial assets and KRW 197.6 trillion in net cash, its presentation shows, after KRW 98.6 trillion of operating cash flow. By our arithmetic, the quarter’s KRW 24.8 trillion cash increase alone is 1.24 to 2.48 times the KRW 10 to 20 trillion EUV order range Chosun Biz reported.
A note on sourcing. Figures are from Samsung Electronics’ third-quarter 2026 results release and earnings presentation, read in full on 9 November 2026. The KRW 10 to 20 trillion EUV order range and the SK hynix and R&D figures are from Chosun Biz. We did not contact Samsung Electronics. The 1.24 to 2.48 times and 2.6 to 3.6 times ratios are our arithmetic.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
