Samsung Electronics expects second-quarter profit to surge 18-fold due to strong demand for AI chips
Samsung Electronics is about to release its second quarter 2026 financial report this week, and the market is generally expecting the company to record record results. According to forecasts from multiple financial institutions, Samsung's second-quarter operating profit is expected to increase approximately 18 times year-on-year to approximately 38 trillion won, significantly exceeding market expectations. This growth is mainly due to the strong demand for high-bandwidth memory and enterprise-class solid-state drives due to the global artificial intelligence boom. As the world's largest memory chip manufacturer, Samsung has successfully seized the opportunities brought by the wave of investment in AI server infrastructure. Industry research institutions pointed out that NVIDIA, The demand for HBM from AI chip giants continues to rise, pushing up the price and profit margin of memory chips. The above-expected performance previously announced by SK Hynix has confirmed this trend, and the industry as a whole is recovering from the 18-month cyclical downturn. In addition, Samsung has recently received full certification for NVIDIA's HBM3E products and is expected to further expand supply starting in the second half of the year. Despite its stellar performance, Samsung is also facing cost pressures. According to the company's disclosure, employee salary expenses are expected to increase by approximately 15% in 2026 due to labor union negotiations and increases in industry salary standards. This cost increase may put some pressure on profit margins, but analysts believe that the profit growth brought about by AI-driven product portfolio optimization is enough to offset this impact. Samsung is shifting production capacity to high value-added products. At the same time, in terms of foundry business, Samsung is working hard to narrow its relationship with gap. The company recently announced that its 3-nanometer process using Gate-All-Around technology has achieved stable mass production and has received approvals including , AMD including multiple customer orders. Institutions predict that Samsung's semiconductor division's full-year operating profit is expected to exceed the 150 trillion won mark, setting a record high. Buoyed by this positive expectation, Samsung Electronics' stock price has continued to rise recently, hitting a new high since 2021. Investors are paying close attention to the upcoming full financial report and the company's management's latest outlook on the AI chip supply and demand situation in the second half of the year.