Seoul: Samsung Electronics Co. on Tuesday estimated its third-quarter operating profit reached the highest level in more than three years, beating market expectations. The world's biggest maker of memory chips expected an operating profit of 12.1 trillion won (US$8.5 billion) for the quarter ending in September, up 31.8 percent from 9.18 trillion won a year earlier, according to an earnings guidance released by Samsung Electronics.

According to Yonhap News Agency, it is the largest quarterly earnings since the second quarter of 2022, when the company posted a 14.1 trillion-won operating profit. The third-quarter operating profit was 17.4 percent higher than the average estimate from a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

Sales increased 8.7 percent to 86 trillion won. The data for net income was not available. The company will release its final earnings report later.