Samsung Electronics reported a dramatic surge in first-quarter earnings, projecting operating profit of 57.2 trillion won ($37.9 billion), far exceeding expectations and marking more than an eightfold increase from a year earlier.
The results underscore the impact of booming demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure, which has tightened semiconductor supply and pushed memory chip prices sharply higher. DRAM prices nearly doubled in the first quarter and are expected to rise further, according to industry forecasts.
Samsung, the world’s largest memory chipmaker, has been a major beneficiary of this trend. Its memory division alone is estimated to have generated about 54 trillion won in operating profit, while other segments such as logic chips remained under pressure.
The company also benefited from favorable currency movements, as the weakening South Korean won boosted overseas earnings when converted back to local currency.
Rival SK Hynix also saw gains, reflecting broader strength across the memory chip sector driven by AI-related demand.
Despite the strong performance, analysts caution that risks are emerging. Rising energy costs linked to geopolitical tensions, including the ongoing Middle East conflict, could disrupt supply chains and dampen demand. There are also early signs of stabilization in spot DRAM prices as customers struggle to absorb higher costs.
Samsung has been working to close the gap in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips—critical for AI workloads—with shipments of its latest HBM4 products to Nvidia earlier this year. However, most of its profit growth still comes from traditional memory chips used in AI inference workloads.
Looking ahead, the company is expected to release detailed earnings later this month, with analysts focusing on how it structures long-term contracts to sustain profitability amid potential market normalization.
