Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) rewrote Korean corporate history on April 7, 2026, announcing record-shattering results. First-quarter revenue hit an all-time high of 133.3 trillion won, while operating profit reached 57.2 trillion won. That figure is nearly triple Samsung's previous single-quarter record of 20.1 trillion won and rivals the 58.8867 trillion won in full-year operating profit posted in 2018, its best annual performance ever. Witnessing a semiconductor mega-cycle that far surpasses the super-cycle of eight years ago, one cannot help but applaud Samsung Electronics' quantum jump — a company that has maintained the world's finest technology and production capability.
Securities firms and semiconductor market participants are lending weight to forecasts that, with the global artificial intelligence boom continuing, Samsung could break quarterly records throughout this year and push full-year operating profit past 300 trillion won. Considering that the combined operating profit of all 626 KOSPI-listed companies (including Samsung Electronics) last year totaled 244.7882 trillion won, one can at least begin to fathom the enormous influence Samsung's might exerts across politics, society, and diplomacy.
What is even more reassuring is that, unlike eight years ago when Samsung dominated alone while posting peak earnings, it now leads the global memory semiconductor market alongside SK hynix (000660.KS). In the past, there were concerns about the over-concentration on Samsung Electronics in industry and the stock market. The rise of SK hynix — worthy of being called a second Samsung Electronics — has made not only the semiconductor sector but Korea's entire industrial ecosystem considerably more robust.
SK hynix, the foremost contributor to the AI revolution and creator of the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) legend, will release its first-quarter results in the last week of this month. Estimates suggest its operating profit could more than double from the previous quarter's 19.1969 trillion won. The ordinary citizen's wish — "If only there were one more company like Samsung Electronics…" — has come true. Together, the two companies have already provided most of the funding, through corporate taxes, for the government's approximately 26 trillion won supplementary budget designed to minimize the fallout from the U.S.-Iran war.
Watching Samsung Electronics and SK hynix open a new era for the Korean economy with their technological prowess and global management, one cannot help but sigh at the political establishment's behavior. Politicians still cling to the parochial idea of relocating some of the semiconductor fabs — for which the duo has committed plans worth hundreds of trillions of won and begun construction in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province — to provincial areas such as Saemangeum in North Jeolla Province. It is realistically impossible for any region in the country to replicate the memory semiconductor strongholds Samsung and SK hynix have built in Yongin, Hwaseong, Icheon, and Cheongju. Moreover, such a move would shake the competitiveness of Samsung and SK hynix — companies the entire world, including China, is racing to catch — and hand rivals a golden opportunity.
Setting aside the practical requirements of massive electricity and water supplies for semiconductor fabs, the supply chains that enable chip production, and the recruitment of tens of thousands of skilled workers, the petty notion of siphoning off part of a thriving semiconductor industry will only cause serious cracks in the greater cause of balanced national development.
Instead, the government, politicians, and local authorities should commit to the right course: dismantling regulations and reviving businesses — areas where they hesitated eight years ago, questioning whether "a second Samsung Electronics is even possible." Semiconductors are not the only industry capable of producing world-class companies and astronomical profits. The bio industry has already established itself as a new growth engine in an aging society, and Samsung Biologics (207940.KS) has emerged as a prized new business pillar within the Samsung Group, powering Incheon's economy.
Even looking beyond the capital region, there is no shortage of industries and companies that could become the second semiconductor sector or the third Samsung Electronics. Hyundai Motor Group has committed 9 trillion won to build an AI data center and a robotics production hub in Saemangeum. Humanoid robotics is a field where Hyundai Motor Group, which boasts the world's top manufacturing competitiveness, can take yet another leap forward.
K-Defense, thrust into the spotlight by the U.S.-Iran war, is seeing its export competitiveness soar with cost-effective products and best-in-class delivery compliance as geopolitical risks spread. Companies leading K-Defense are eyeing Saemangeum as a testbed for new technologies. K-Shipbuilding, which U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed envy of, is roaring to life in Ulsan, Geoje, and Yeongam. Doosan Enerbility is building a dedicated small modular reactor (SMR) plant in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province — a facility poised to bring revolutionary change to the global energy market. Across the nation, companies racing to become the third, fourth, and fifth Samsung Electronics are waiting for the support of the government, local authorities, and the public.