At CES 2026, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon confirmed that Qualcomm has entered talks with Samsung Electronics to manufacture its next-generation 2-nanometer chips. Qualcomm has completed the design phase and plans to commercialize the chips in the near term. This collaboration could significantly boost Samsung’s foundry revenue, which has trailed industry leader TSMC for several years, and may secure a substantial new contract worth several billion dollars over multiple production phases.

Samsung Electronics announced a 2.5 trillion won share buyback program to be used for employee and executive compensation. The repurchase, equivalent to approximately $1.73 billion, aims to align management incentives with shareholder returns and reduce the company’s outstanding share count by roughly 0.7%. Investors will watch for the program’s impact on earnings per share and return on equity in the coming quarters.

President Wonjin Lee cautioned that global memory-chip shortages could drive price increases across the electronics sector. Lee attributed the potential squeeze to surging demand for next-generation DRAM and NAND products, which have seen supply constraints tightening to a three-year low utilization rate. Higher memory costs could bolster Samsung’s margins but may also pressure device makers and downstream OEMs.

Market analysts project that Samsung will report a 160% year-over-year increase in fourth-quarter operating profit, driven by the current chip shortage and elevated memory prices. This could translate into an operating profit exceeding 10 trillion won. The strong performance is expected to reinforce Samsung’s capital expenditure plans for advanced process fabs and support a dividend hike in the first half of 2026.