SEOUL — Samsung Electronics has officially ascended to the top of the global corporate ladder in terms of quarterly operating profit, riding an unprecedented wave of demand driven by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom.

According to its regulatory filing on July 7, Samsung Electronics reported a preliminary operating profit of 89.4 trillion KRW (approximately $64.5 billion) for the second quarter of 2026. This figure represents a staggering 1,810.3% increase compared to the same period last year and a 56.2% jump from the previous quarter. Revenue also hit a record high of 171 trillion KRW, up 129.3% year-on-year.

A Historic Performance Amidst Market Turbulence

The record-breaking performance was primarily driven by the Device Solutions (DS) division, which oversees the semiconductor business. Analysts estimate that the DS division alone generated approximately 85 trillion KRW in operating profit.

This achievement is particularly notable as it surpasses the quarterly earnings of global tech giants like NVIDIA and Apple. For comparison, NVIDIA reported an operating profit of approximately 82 trillion KRW in its first quarter of fiscal year 2027 (February–April 2026), while Apple posted around 78 trillion KRW in the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year.

Market experts note that Samsung’s actual operational strength is even higher than the reported figures. The company set aside between 15 and 20 trillion KRW as a provision for employee performance bonuses—a result of a recent labor-management agreement that allocates 10.5% of DS division profits to staff incentives. Excluding these provisions, Samsung’s real operating profit for the second quarter nears 110 trillion KRW, putting it in the same league as Saudi Aramco’s record-setting 2022 performance during the height of the global energy crisis.

The AI Catalyst: Why Memory Matters

The primary engine behind this growth is the explosive demand for high-performance memory, essential for training and running large-scale AI models. According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, the global memory market size in the second quarter skyrocketed by 380% year-on-year to approximately 350 trillion KRW.

The prices for DRAM and NAND flash memory, the cornerstones of Samsung's portfolio, have seen a steep upward trajectory, rising roughly 50% in the second quarter alone after an 80-85% surge in the first quarter. As the world’s largest memory manufacturer, Samsung is the primary beneficiary of the current global supply shortage.

Furthermore, Samsung is aggressively scaling its production capabilities. In addition to ongoing construction at its Pyeongtaek P5 campus and the Yongin National Industrial Complex, the company recently announced a 400 trillion KRW investment to build two new memory fabrication plants (fabs) in the Honam region.

Future Outlook

The outlook for the remainder of the year remains highly positive. Financial analysts project that Samsung could reach an operating profit of 110 trillion KRW in the third quarter and 120 trillion KRW in the fourth, potentially capping off the year with an annual operating profit of approximately 380 trillion KRW.

"With long-term supply agreements (LTA) firmly in place through 2029, the structural supply shortage in the memory market is expected to persist," said Professor Park Jae-geun of Hanyang University's School of Electronic Engineering. "Given the sustained demand and Samsung's ongoing capital expenditure to boost output, the upward trend in both revenue and memory pricing is likely to continue for the foreseeable future."

As global data centers continue to prioritize AI infrastructure, Samsung’s strategic focus on the next-generation HBM4 (High Bandwidth Memory) is expected to solidify its lead, positioning the company not just as a hardware supplier, but as a critical pillar of the global AI economy.

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