Samsung posts record quarterly profit as AI memory demand surges
Samsung Electronics said preliminary operating profit for the second quarter reached a record 89.4 trillion won, roughly $61 billion — up about 1,810% from a year earlier and above the market consensus. Revenue rose 129% on-year to 171 trillion won.
The jump reflects how sharply the AI build-out has lifted prices and volumes for advanced memory, particularly the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) stacked alongside AI accelerators. The year-earlier quarter was a weak base — Samsung was then lagging rivals on HBM qualification — which magnifies the percentage gain, but the absolute figure is a genuine record for the world’s largest memory maker.
The print is a preliminary guidance number; Samsung will release detailed divisional results later in the month. The read-through is straightforward: memory suppliers are now capturing an outsized share of AI infrastructure spending, and the cycle shows little sign of cooling while data-center demand outpaces supply.