S. Korea's Samsung Electronics posts record earnings in Q2

Alsharq Tribune-Al Otaify 

South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics posted record-high earnings in the second quarter, driven by soaring demand for memory chips amid global artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investments, the company said Thursday.

Samsung's operating profit surged 1,813.8 percent from a year earlier to reach an all-time high of 89.49 trillion won (62.1 billion U.S. dollars) in the April-June quarter.

The profit beat market expectations of about 84.2 trillion won.

Its revenue jumped 130.0 percent to hit a new high of 171.50 trillion won, and the net income skyrocketed 1,299.9 percent to 71.62 trillion won.

The record earnings were boosted by spiking demand for memory chips and higher chip prices, leading the memory business to set an all-time high for its quarterly revenue and operating profit.

Samsung's chip-making business recorded an operating profit of 89.2 trillion won with revenue of 127.5 trillion won in the quarter ending June 30.

The company said the chip business achieved another record-breaking quarter by proactively addressing AI demand, explaining that the industry-wide upward trend of prices also contributed to the record earnings.

Samsung noted that it scaled up HBM4 sales and shipped its HBM4E samples to major customers, expecting robust demand centered on servers from the continued AI infrastructure investments and the broader adoption of agentic AI in the second half.

Samsung's foundry business saw its earnings significantly improve in the second quarter, supported by HBM base-die demand and strong orders from customers in the United States.

The display panel unit generated an operating profit of 0.7 trillion won with revenue of 7.5 trillion won in the April-June quarter.

Earnings for small and medium display improved based on solid demand for high-end mobile OLED products, while large display sales expanded on the back of growth in the gaming monitor market.

The display panel division planned to focus on addressing premium smartphone demand with low-power products in the second half while driving sales growth in large display with an increased gaming monitor customer base.

The mobile phone and networks unit posted an operating loss of 0.7 trillion won with revenue of 33.2 trillion won for the second quarter.

Mobile device revenue grew year-over-year thanks to strong sales of the Galaxy S26 series and Galaxy A series, but its earnings declined due to elevated component cost pressure across the industry, Samsung explained.

The mobile phone business planned to strengthen its AI leadership through personalized and intuitive experiences and drive overall market share growth centered on the new Galaxy Z8 and S26 series.

The TV and home appliance unit logged a slight operating loss on revenue of 14.5 trillion won in the second quarter.

TV sales and earnings increased year-over-year as a result of high demand from major sporting events, while home appliance sales mounted on robust air conditioner demand, despite cost pressures weighing on earnings. (1 won equals 0.00069 U.S. dollars)