Overview
- Samsung said on Tuesday that preliminary second-quarter results showed an operating profit of about 89.4 trillion won and revenue of 171 trillion won, the highest quarterly operating result in the company’s history.
- The company and multiple analysts attribute the surge to very strong demand for AI infrastructure that pushed up prices for DRAM, NAND and high‑bandwidth memory (HBM), and Samsung recently delivered first test samples of a new HBM generation to customers.
- Markets reacted negatively despite the record numbers, with the stock falling roughly 7–10 percent as investors said much of the gains had already been priced in and worried that hyperscaler investment could slow.
- Samsung booked provisions for large semiconductor‑division bonuses after a late‑May labor compromise, and analysts estimate that without those reserves the operating profit would have exceeded 100 trillion won.
- South Korea’s new multibillion‑euro chip investment plan and tighter global memory supply shape the cycle, and the market will watch Samsung’s full July report for net‑profit details, segment breakdowns and signs of whether AI demand will sustain current chip prices.