Odaily Planet Daily report: Earlier today, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics announced preliminary second-quarter results, reporting an 19-fold year-over-year surge in operating profit, surpassing the total profits of the past three years. Specifically, Samsung forecasted second-quarter operating profit at 89.4 trillion Korean won (up 1,810.2% year-over-year), exceeding the market expectation of 87.3 trillion won. However, the company’s stock price declined sharply, as the results failed to alleviate market concerns about the sustainability of the AI-driven chip boom.
Samsung's stock plunged over 8% in early trading, while competitor SK Hynix fell 7.3%, dragging the Korean KOSPI index down 6%. Analysts attributed Samsung's weak performance to overly optimistic market expectations—profit, boosted by record-high memory chip prices, could have exceeded 90 trillion Korean won after accounting for employee bonus provisions; additionally, concerns are growing that AI data center construction may slow down.
Albert Yong, Managing Partner at Petra Capital Management, said: "Samsung's strong performance was widely anticipated by the market and largely priced in before the earnings announcement. Investors remain concerned about the sustainability of the AI boom and the risk of potential slowdowns in AI infrastructure spending by major U.S. tech companies." (Jin10)