Samsung Electronics forecast a record second-quarter operating profit of 89.4 trillion won ($58.4 billion) on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, marking a 19-fold increase from the same period last year.
The South Korean tech giant attributed the surge to soaring global demand for artificial intelligence memory chips, which has driven semiconductor prices higher.
Consolidated sales for the April-to-June quarter reached approximately 171 trillion won ($111.4 billion), doubling last year's performance, according to company earnings guidance and data compiled by Reuters.
This marks Samsung's third consecutive record quarterly operating profit, up from 4.7 trillion won in the same period last year.
AI Boom Drives Unprecedented Demand
The unprecedented demand for high-bandwidth memory, conventional DRAM, and NAND products for data centers has triggered a prolonged semiconductor shortage that analysts expect to persist through next year.
Industry analyst Marc Einstein from Counterpoint Research noted that the company's projected earnings rival records set by Nvidia earlier this year.
"This has everything to do with the AI boom as memory companies continue to ride a tidal wave driven by limited supply and unprecedented demand," said Einstein.
Despite the strong earnings forecast, Samsung shares fell nearly 7% in Seoul as investors booked profits amid spending concerns.
Market analysts attributed the share drop to fears over escalating capital expenditure and the sustainability of cloud service providers' infrastructure spending.
"The stock had priced in a historic quarter for months, and once the numbers confirmed it was significant but not far beyond what the market had already expected, there wasn't much to reward anyone stepping in," said Zavier Wong, market analyst at eToro.
Wong noted that the market performance was also influenced by upcoming competing stock listings, including SK Hynix's ADR listing the same week.
"It acts more like confirmation, and confirmation is what people sell into," said Wong.
The company's bottom line additionally faces a multi-trillion won reduction for employee bonus provisions following a recent labor union agreement allocating 10.5% of semiconductor operating profits to staff.
"A lot of negative news has been building up, so it looks like everyone wants a piece of that profit.
The labor union wants it, and the Korean government wants it," said Tom Kang, research director at Counterpoint Technology Market Research.
Kang noted that infrastructure investments in unusual domestic locations have also worried investors.
Samsung's mobile business simultaneously faces compressed margins due to rising component costs, while regional competitors in Japan, China, and Taiwan ramp up factory investments to capture market share.
"We do expect supplies to be tight through next year given the unabated demand from AI data centers," said Bryan Ma, tech devices researcher from IDC.
Samsung Electronics is scheduled to release its detailed, audited second-quarter financial report later this month.
