Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is set to release its second-quarter financial results for 2026 this week, with the market widely anticipating record-breaking performance. According to forecasts from multiple financial institutions, the company's operating profit for Q2 is expected to surge approximately 18 times year-on-year, reaching around 38 trillion won, significantly surpassing previous market expectations.
This substantial growth is primarily attributed to robust global demand for high-bandwidth memory and enterprise solid-state drives, fueled by the artificial intelligence boom. As the world's largest memory chip manufacturer, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has successfully capitalized on the wave of investment in AI server infrastructure. Industry research points out that soaring demand for HBM from AI chip giants like Nvidia and AMD has driven up memory chip prices and profit margins. The better-than-expected results previously announced by SK Hynix have confirmed this trend, indicating the industry's overall recovery from an 18-month cyclical downturn. Furthermore, Samsung recently secured full certification for Nvidia's HBM3E products and is expected to further expand supply starting in the second half of the year.
Despite the impressive performance, Samsung also faces cost pressures. The company has disclosed that, influenced by union negotiations and rising industry wage standards, its employee compensation expenses for 2026 are projected to increase by approximately 15%. This cost rise may exert some pressure on profit margins, but analysts believe that the profit growth driven by AI-optimized product portfolios will be sufficient to offset this impact. Samsung is shifting its production capacity towards higher value-added products.
Concurrently, in the foundry business, Samsung is striving to narrow the gap with TSMC. The company recently announced that its 3-nanometer process utilizing Gate-All-Around technology has achieved stable mass production and has secured orders from several clients, including Google and AMD. Institutions predict that the annual operating profit of Samsung's semiconductor division could surpass the 150 trillion won mark, setting a new historical record.
Buoyed by these positive expectations, the share price of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has risen consecutively in recent sessions, reaching its highest level since 2021. Investors are closely monitoring the upcoming full financial report and the management's latest outlook on the supply and demand dynamics for AI chips in the second half of the year.