Samsung Electronics has set new records for both sales and operating profit in the second quarter of this year, raising the possibility of becoming the global leader in operating profit.
On July 7, Samsung Electronics announced that its consolidated sales for Q2 reached 171 trillion won, with an operating profit of 89.4 trillion won. This marks a year-on-year increase of 129.31% in sales and a staggering 1810.26% rise in operating profit.
Despite reporting record figures of 133 trillion won in sales and 57.2 trillion won in operating profit in the first quarter, the company surpassed these numbers just one quarter later. The operating profit alone is more than double last year's annual figure of 43.6 trillion won.
Concerns in the financial sector regarding a potential peak-out in the semiconductor boom have been alleviated. Analysts attribute Samsung's strong profit performance to ongoing supply shortages across various memory sectors, including DRAM, NAND, and HBM, driven by increased investments in AI data centers.
Attention is now focused on whether Samsung can achieve the world's highest annual operating profit this year. When the first quarter results were announced, forecasts for Samsung's annual operating profit were in the 300 trillion won range. The average forecast from five domestic securities firms is 304 trillion won. KB Securities and Bloomberg predict that Samsung will rank second globally in operating profit, following NVIDIA.
Bloomberg has provided consensus figures for comparison, with Saudi Aramco at 294 trillion won, Microsoft at 245 trillion won, Alphabet at 241 trillion won, Apple at 223 trillion won, and Amazon at 150 trillion won.
With the release of the Q2 results, expectations have risen further. Global investment bank Citi has raised its forecast for Samsung's annual operating profit to 401 trillion won. Based on the previously mentioned Bloomberg estimates, there is a possibility that Samsung could surpass NVIDIA to become the world's top company in terms of operating profit.
The key driver behind this performance is the semiconductor sector. Demand for AI servers has pushed up prices not only for HBM but also for general-purpose DRAM and NAND. Analysts believe that Samsung, possessing the largest production capacity among the three major memory manufacturers, has benefited the most from the supply shortages.
However, if investments in AI infrastructure are delayed or if issues related to data center power and location become more pronounced, forecasts for memory demand may need to be adjusted. Additionally, provisions for performance bonuses are expected to impact reported operating profit in future quarters.
A business insider stated, "Samsung's Q2 results demonstrate that the semiconductor boom is not at its end but is still ongoing. With annual operating profit projections exceeding 300 trillion won and even reaching 400 trillion won, Samsung has entered a phase where it is compared with the world's top profit-generating companies."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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