Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. reported a sharp increase in Q2 earnings, fueled by strong demand for AI memory chips, even as its share price remains volatile amid investor concerns about future spending and competition.
The South Korean technology group’s revenue for the quarter ending June 30 reached 171.5 trillion won, its highest quarterly revenue on record. Net profit rose to 71.27 trillion won, surpassing Bloomberg estimates of 68.36 trillion won. Additionally, operating profit increased more than 19-fold to approximately 89.5 trillion won, broadly in line with the company’s previous forecast.
AI Memory Business Continues to Lead Growth
The semiconductor business remained the primary growth driver. It benefited from high memory chip prices and rising volumes of its advanced High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) products for AI servers and data centers. According to the company, demand from cloud providers and AI infrastructure projects continued to support strong pricing across the memory market. Samsung anticipates this trend to continue in the second half of 2026.
Samsung predicted ‘robust demand centered on servers stemming from continued AI infrastructure capex and broader adoption of agentic AI.’ Even with production increases, Samsung stated that the global memory market would remain ‘undersupplied.’
Consumer Business Remains Under Pressure
While the semiconductor business earned a record profit, Samsung’s smartphone, television, and home appliance divisions were less profitable as consumer demand weakened and component prices jumped. The company will continue to focus on high-margin AI memory products and invest in expanding its semiconductor manufacturing. In 2026, projects on 2-nanometer technology chips are projected to more than double each year, executives said in a post-earnings conference call.
Market Reaction and Outlook
Samsung shares were highly volatile during Thursday’s trading session, despite the strong results. The stock initially surged up to 7% but lost most of its gains as overall market weakness hit South Korea’s stocks. Investor sentiment is growing skeptical about the ability of AI-led semiconductors to maintain their valuations. Competition from Chinese chipmakers and heavy capital spending have also dampened investor confidence. Samsung also revealed that it is not currently planning to list its shares on American Depository Receipts (ADR), following queries from investors after rival SK Hynix recently listed in the US.
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