Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK hynix (000660.KS), Korea's top two chipmakers, are expected to post record-high earnings again in the second quarter, driven by a memory chip boom fueled by the spread of artificial intelligence (AI). With surging global demand for memory pushing up prices for commodity DRAM, NAND flash and high-bandwidth memory (HBM), operating margins are also projected to reach all-time highs.
According to industry sources, a tally of consensus estimates from 15 brokerages that issued reports within the past month projects that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will post combined second-quarter operating profit exceeding 150 trillion won.
Samsung Electronics' second-quarter revenue and operating profit are estimated at 171.7347 trillion won and 88.3029 trillion won, respectively. These figures represent a sharp increase of 130% in revenue and 1,788% in operating profit compared with the same period last year.
SK hynix is also expected to set a record. The company's second-quarter revenue and operating profit are estimated at 83.4135 trillion won and 64.3195 trillion won, respectively.
The strong performance of the semiconductor business played a decisive role in these earnings forecasts. Since the beginning of this year, Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) division, which handles the chip business, has accounted for about 95% of the company's total operating profit, driving its earnings.
The brokerage community projects that the memory business posted operating profit of about 60 trillion to 70 trillion won from DRAM and about 20 trillion won from NAND. However, the System LSI and foundry divisions are expected to remain in the red in the second quarter.
HBM sales have continued to grow, and there is also room for HBM prices to rise, analysts said. Market research firm TrendForce noted that while commodity DRAM profitability surpassed HBM in the first quarter of this year, HBM demand and prices will continue to rise as AI-driven demand persists.
Samsung Electronics' second-quarter operating margin is expected to be similar to or higher than the 66% recorded in the first quarter, which included non-memory operations. This is a remarkable figure compared with the single digits seen in the first half of last year.
SK hynix is also likely to set a record high. Its operating margin is expected to exceed the previous record of about 72% set in the first quarter. Some forecasts even suggest it could approach 80%. The gap with foundry industry leader TSMC could widen further. TSMC's second-quarter operating margin is projected at 56.5% to 58.5%.
With the memory supply shortage expected to continue for the time being, SK hynix plans to expand capacity over the medium to long term. SK Group Chairman Tae-won Choi said at the Computex 2026 venue on June 2 that "the memory bottleneck is expected to continue until 2030," adding, "We plan to double our semiconductor production capacity on a wafer basis over the next five years."
