SEOUL -- South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics saw its third-quarter preliminary operating profit soar in double digits thanks to strong semiconductor demand, the company said Tuesday.

Samsung's preliminary operating profit jumped 31.8 percent to 12.1 trillion won ($8.5 billion) in the July-September quarter compared to the same quarter of last year.

It beat market estimates of about 10 trillion won ($7 billion), marking the largest since the second quarter of 2022.

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Preliminary revenue gained 8.7 percent from a year earlier to hit a record high of 86 trillion won ($60.1 billion) in the third quarter.

The record earnings were attributed to surging demand for high-end memory chips.

The net income and detailed earnings for each business unit will be unveiled later this month.