Samsung Electronics reported record second-quarter operating profit of 89.5 trillion won, about $62 billion, on Thursday, July 30, as demand for the memory chips used in artificial intelligence servers lifted the South Korean technology company to an unprecedented result. The Associated Press said profit for the April-to-June period rose more than nineteenfold from a year earlier, while quarterly revenue reached an all-time high of 171.5 trillion won, or roughly $119 billion.
Nearly all of the operating profit came from Samsung's semiconductor business, according to AP. Rising memory-chip prices, larger shipments of high-bandwidth memory and sustained orders for AI-server components outweighed an operating loss in the division that includes mobile devices, televisions and home appliances, where higher component costs added pressure.
Samsung told investors that memory demand should remain strong during the second half of 2026 as technology companies continue expanding AI infrastructure and adopt more agentic AI systems. The company expects server-chip demand to accelerate and the market to remain undersupplied. Samsung executive Kim Jaejune said on the earnings call that demand growth was running faster than production increases and that the supply-demand gap could widen further in 2027.
The company has secured long-term supply agreements with five major global data-center customers and is holding talks with other large technology groups, AP reported, without Samsung naming those customers. Samsung also plans to begin building a second semiconductor fabrication plant in Taylor, Texas, before the end of 2026, aiming to start production there by 2030.
The results arrived one day after rival SK Hynix reported record second-quarter revenue of 60.5 trillion won. Together, Samsung and SK Hynix manufacture about two-thirds of the world's memory chips, making their production decisions central to the price and availability of components required by AI accelerators, servers and data centers. The two companies announced plans in June to invest a combined 800 trillion won in a new South Korean chipmaking hub.
Record earnings have not removed concerns about the durability of the spending boom. Shares of both chipmakers declined during the week as investors weighed enormous capacity investments, uncertain long-term returns and growing Chinese competition, including reports of domestic immersion lithography production and the market debut of memory producer ChangXin Memory Technologies. Samsung's next test will be whether planned factories and higher output can narrow shortages without creating excess capacity if AI demand slows.
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