NewzSEOUL, July 30 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics on Thursday reported a record operating profit of 89.5 trillion won ($62 billion) for the April-June period, a day after crosstown rival SK Hynix also reported record earnings, as the world’s two largest memory chipmakers continue to ride the global artificial intelligence boom.Despite their soaring profits, the companies’ shares have fallen sharply this week in South Korea’s volatile stock market, where retail investors often drive sharp swings in share prices, as concerns grow over their plans to spend massively on increasing manufacturing capacity and the prospects of intensifying competition from China.Samsung’s second-quarter operating profit was a more than 19-fold increase from a year earlier, and nearly all of it came from its semiconductor business, which benefited from rising chip prices driven by demand for AI servers and increased shipments of advanced high-bandwidth memory chips used to power AI applications. That outweighed an operating loss in its mobile, TV and home appliances division, partly due to higher component costs.Samsung’s quarterly revenue of 171.5 trillion won ($119 billion) was also an all-time high.
The company said it expects demand for its memory products to remain strong in the second half of the year, driven by continued expansion of AI infrastructure and broader adoption of agentic AI. Demand for server chips is expected to accelerate further, keeping the market undersupplied, it said in a statement.Samsung’s report came a day after SK Hynix also reported a record second-quarter revenue of 60.5 trillion won ($42 billion). However, SK Hynx’s profit was still below the loftier market expectations and the company’s shares declined by more than 9% on Monday.
Samsung’s share prices have also declined this week.While Samsung and SK Hynix have embarked on major investments in semiconductor manufacturing facilities and data centers as South Korea expands its AI ambitions, some analysts say there are growing concerns about whether such massive spending will ultimately generate sufficient returns.Shares of South Korean chipmakers have also been pressured by concerns over intensifying competition from China, with reports that a state-owned Chinese company had begun mass-producing domestically developed immersion deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines, a … Despite their soaring profits, the companies’ shares have fallen sharply this week in South Korea’s volatile stock market, where retail investors often drive sharp swings in share prices, as concerns grow over their plans to spend massively on increasing manufacturing capacity and the prospects of intensifying competition from China. Samsung’s second-quarter operating profit was a more than 19-fold increase from a year earlier, and nearly all of it came from its semiconductor business, which benefited from rising chip prices driven by demand for AI servers and increased shipments of advanced high-bandwidth memory chips used to power AI applications.
Samsung’s quarterly revenue of 171.5 trillion won ($119 billion) was also an all-time high. Samsung’s report came a day after SK Hynix also reported a record second-quarter revenue of 60.5 trillion won ($42 billion). Samsung’s share prices have also declined this week.
While Samsung and SK Hynix have embarked on major investments in semiconductor manufacturing facilities and data centers as South Korea expands its AI ambitions, some analysts say there are growing concerns about whether such massive spending will ultimately generate sufficient returns. Shares of South Korean chipmakers have also been pressured by concerns over intensifying competition from China, with reports that a state-owned Chinese company had begun mass-producing domestically developed immersion deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machin… Samsung said its net profit soared 1,299.9% on-year to 71.62 trillion won.
(EPA Images pic)SEOUL: South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics posted on Thursday a massive 19-fold jump in second-quarter operating profit from a year earlier, buoyed by sustained AI-driven demand for memory chips.The world's largest memory chipmaker posted an April-June operating profit of 89.49 trillion won (US$62 billion) – up 1,813.8% on-year, the company said in a regulatory filing.The firm posted revenue of 171.49 trillion won, up 130% from a year earlier.Its net profit soared 1,299.9% on-year to 71.62 trillion won, it said.The earnings met market expectations, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, citing its own financial data firm.The boom results were posted despite South Korean stocks suffering a sharp sell-off on Wednesday as nervous traders unwound AI-driven bets, fretting whether lofty profit forecasts are realistic.Samsung fell more than 12%, while its main domestic rival, SK Hynix, tumbled nearly 20% after 14% losses the day before – halving its value from record highs last month.SK Hynix's second quarter operating profit and revenue posted Wednesday came in below expectations, even as net profit soared a forecast-beating 1,242%.Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and US firm Micron are the world's three leading manufacturers of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI processors to generate chatbot responses and realistic images.Analysts say the firms' boom is likely to continue as North American tech giants ramp up investment in AI data centres requiring their cutting-edge chips.AI expansion has also pushed up prices and shipments of conventional NAND and DRAM memory chips to Samsung's advantage, analysts say.The company's HBM business is also "driving a significantly positive impact on their foundry business as well", MS Hwang, an analyst at investment firm Counterpoint, told AFP."In short, Samsung is leveraging its strong position in memory to aggressively capture share across most of its business units."
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