Samsung Hits $1 Trillion as AI Chip Rally Sends Kospi Past 7,000

CNBC reported Wednesday that Samsung Electronics shares jumped more than 10%, lifting the Korean chipmaker’s market capitalization above $1 trillion as global investors continued to rotate into artificial intelligence hardware names.

Samsung $1 Trillion Milestone Joins Elite Asian Club

The landmark valuation makes Samsung only the second Asian company to clear that threshold, behind Taiwan’s TSMC. According to FactSet data cited by CNBC, Samsung first crossed the $1 trillion mark back in late February. Wednesday’s move extended and confirmed that breakout decisively. The broader rally also received a boost from a Bloomberg report indicating that Apple held early-stage discussions with both Samsung and Intel about producing chips for Apple devices on U.S. soil, a move that could reduce the iPhone maker’s reliance on TSMC as its primary supplier.

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Record Earnings Set the Stage

Last week’s quarterly results provided the fuel for Wednesday’s move. Samsung reported first-quarter operating profit of 57.2 trillion Korean won, a more than eightfold increase year-over-year, while revenue reached a record 133.9 trillion won. Strikingly, that single quarter’s operating profit already surpassed Samsung’s entire full-year 2025 figure of 43.6 trillion won. The results underscored how fast the AI infrastructure buildout is translating into semiconductor demand.

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HBM Chips and the Battle With SK Hynix

A central driver of Samsung’s profitability surge is high-bandwidth memory, or HBM chips, which are critical components in AI accelerator hardware. The company has worked to close a competitive gap with domestic rival SK Hynix, which currently holds a stronger position in the HBM market after Samsung ceded an early lead. In February, Samsung said it had become the first company anywhere to begin mass production of HBM4, the sixth generation of the technology. Those chips are widely expected to feature in Nvidia‘s forthcoming Vera Rubin AI architecture, designed for demanding data center workloads. SK Hynix itself rose more than 9% on Wednesday, reflecting the broad sectoral tailwind. Research firm Morningstar noted that AI infrastructure spending is compressing supply across the semiconductor industry, pushing chip prices higher and benefiting producers concentrated in South Korea.

Kospi Breaks 7,000 for the First Time

The combined surge in chip stocks was enough to carry South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index above 7,000 points for the first time in its history, closing more than 5% higher on the day. The milestone reflects how tightly South Korean equities have become linked to global AI capital spending cycles. With Samsung now firmly above $1 trillion and HBM demand showing no signs of easing, analysts will be watching whether the index can hold that psychologically significant level in the sessions ahead.

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