Samsung Electronics is expected to report preliminary second-quarter operating profit of 84.3 trillion won on Tuesday, a result that would mark an 18-fold jump from a year earlier and put its profit for the quarter above what it made for all of 2025. Analysts tracked by also project revenue will rise 127% to a record 169 trillion won, a scale that would make the result one of the clearest signs yet that the memory-chip boom tied to AI is still running hot.
The surge is being driven by demand for high-performance memory chips used to train and run large AI systems such as Claude and ChatGPT. HSBC said average DRAM selling prices rose more than 40% in the April-June quarter from the previous quarter, while NAND prices jumped more than 50%. For Samsung, that matters because it is the world's largest memory chipmaker, and its results have become a live test of whether the AI trade can keep supporting semiconductor earnings at this pace.
The market has already made its judgment once. Samsung stock doubled last quarter and climbed more than 160% this year, but it has also fallen nearly 9% over five sessions as volatility across major semiconductor stocks hit its highest level since 2020. That pullback shows how quickly investors have shifted from celebrating the rally to questioning how much more of it is left.
There is another reason the report matters beyond one company. Samsung Group and SK Group are planning two chipmaking plants each in southwest South Korea for a combined 800 trillion won, a spending plan that underscores how far the AI memory race has pushed the industry. But the near-term question is more immediate: whether Samsung's expected jump in profit, and the price strength behind it, can hold once the market starts looking past this quarter. Tuesday's numbers should give the clearest answer yet.
