SEOUL, July 07 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics on Tuesday estimated second-quarter operating profit of 89.4 trillion won ($58.4 billion) on revenue of 171 trillion won, a bar-raising figure that, instead of sparking excitement, triggered panicky profit-taking on fears the AI heyday may have peaked.
The guidance beat market consensus of around 85 trillion won, while revenue slightly fell short.
Compared with the previous quarter, revenue rose 27.7 percent and operating profit increased 56.2 percent. From a year earlier, revenue climbed 129.3 percent, while operating profit surged 1,810.3 percent.
The tech giant, whose business spans from chips to finished appliances, has been on a record earnings streak for a third consecutive quarter, with the latest three-month performance nearly doubling its full-year earnings for 2025.
Based on first-quarter results, chips are expected to have accounted for the bulk of the profit in the April-June period. Samsung discloses the breakdown when it releases its final earnings later this month.
The preliminary headline figures nonetheless underscore the extraordinary profitability created by the AI memory boom, with strong demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), DRAM and NAND continuing to outstrip supply across the semiconductor industry. Analysts have said Samsung has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of rising memory prices and expanding AI infrastructure investment.
Including the 17 trillion won in provisions for employee performance bonuses under the company's recently agreed compensation plan for its Device Solutions (DS) division, second-quarter operating profit could have neared 100 trillion won.
A company official confirmed it booked around 17 trillion won as a one-time expense in the second-quarter accounts.
By the headline figure, Samsung has set a new standard for itself and among its global peers.
Samsung's reported operating profit also exceeded the $53.5 billion in operating income reported by Nvidia for its latest fiscal quarter ended April 26, making Samsung's latest quarterly operating profit larger than the AI chip leader's most recently reported result. Nvidia and Samsung report under different fiscal calendars, however, meaning the figures are not directly comparable.
Samsung's quarterly operating profit was also substantially higher than the latest reported operating income of other major technology companies, including Alphabet ($39.7 billion) and Microsoft ($38.4 billion), underscoring the scale of the current AI-driven memory upcycle. While those companies benefit primarily from cloud computing, software and AI services, Samsung's earnings have been propelled by a sharp rise in memory chip prices amid tight global supply.
Although AI chip demand is projected to remain strong at least through next year, investors feared they may have already seen the earnings peak, sending the stock down nearly 7 percent to close below the 300,000-won mark Tuesday.
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