🤖 AI Curated
Samsung Electronics posted record-high earnings in Q2 2026, with 171 trillion won in revenue and 89.4 trillion won in operating profit. In the same week, SK Hynix pursued a Nasdaq ADR listing targeting approximately $29 billion (with a goal of July 10), marking the peak of the AI memory supercycle in both earnings and the capital market simultaneously.
Two Korean semiconductor giants simultaneously dropped historic news in the same week. Samsung Electronics announced preliminary Q2 2026 results, reporting 171 trillion won in revenue and 89.4 trillion won in operating profit (consolidated basis). Compared to the same period last year, revenue jumped by approximately 129%, and operating profit surged by over 1,810%, marking the company's best performance since its founding. The numbers were so massive that comparisons emerged, suggesting it even surpassed Nvidia's operating profit (around 82 trillion won) for the same quarter.
The engine driving these results is clear. Prices continue to rise due to an ongoing 'memory shortage' across high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI servers, as well as general DRAM and NAND. The semiconductor (DS) division is estimated to be responsible for the majority of the company's profits. With increased HBM4 production expected in the second half of the year, the 'supercycle' expectations have effectively been confirmed by these earnings.
At the same time, SK Hynix, the leader in the HBM market with approximately 60% share, expanded its stage to the U.S. The company is pursuing a Nasdaq listing in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), with a fundraising target of approximately $29 billion (around 45 trillion Korean won). This structure involves issuing approximately 17.79 million new shares, and it's being evaluated as the 'largest-ever U.S. listing by a foreign company,' surpassing Alibaba in 2014 and Saudi Aramco in 2019. The target date for the listing is reportedly July 10.
SK Hynix is specifically knocking on the U.S. market's door to 'directly reach AI investors.' Its biggest customers, including Nvidia and Google (Alphabet), are all in the U.S., and they rely on HBM as a critical component for AI infrastructure. The company also believes this move aims to narrow the valuation gap it faces in the Korean stock market. Indeed, SK Hynix's stock price has surged over 280% this year alone, pushing its market capitalization past $1 trillion.
However, the market isn't entirely rosy. Semiconductor stocks underwent a significant correction in early June following Broadcom's conservative AI chip guidance. Some analysts point to 'fatigue,' asking, 'What happens if AI data center investments slow down?' IDC warned that surging memory prices could suppress demand for end products like smartphones. In other words, the word 'peak' encapsulates both anticipation and anxiety.
In summary, this week marks a symbolic moment where the AI memory boom simultaneously peaked through earnings (Samsung) and a capital market event (SK Hynix). However, how long this supercycle will last and when a correction might occur remain open questions.
From the perspective of the Korean stock market, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix account for approximately half of the KOSPI's total market capitalization, meaning their earnings and events dictate the overall market sentiment. Looking at industry trends, the core of this boom is 'HBM memory for AI servers.' The beneficiaries are memory manufacturers and the AI infrastructure (GPU, cloud) sector that purchases these. The burden, however, falls on set manufacturers like smartphone and PC makers, who bear the rising memory prices as a cost. However, semiconductors are a typical cyclical industry, carrying the recurring risk of 'price shortages → capacity expansion → oversupply.' As seen in recent corrections, the fact that even a single sign of slowing AI investment can cause significant volatility is a context to remember when reading the news. (This article is industry news and does not recommend buying, selling, or making investment decisions regarding specific stocks.)
🤖 AI-curated from multiple sources. Verify accuracy with the originals (sources).