Samsung Crosses $1 Trillion as AI Chip Frenzy Sends Shares Surging 15%

CNBC reported Wednesday that Samsung Electronics shares surged more than 15%, vaulting the chipmaker’s market capitalization past the Samsung $1 trillion milestone. The move makes Samsung only the second Asian company to reach that level, after Taiwan’s TSMC.

Record Earnings Ignite the Rally

The jump follows blowout first-quarter results released last week. Samsung’s operating profit climbed more than eightfold year-on-year to 57.2 trillion Korean won, while revenue hit a record 133.9 trillion won. Notably, that single quarter’s operating profit already exceeded the company’s entire full-year 2025 figure of 43.6 trillion won. Analysts cited surging demand for AI-linked memory chips as the primary driver behind the earnings beat.

A separate Bloomberg report added fuel to the fire. Apple reportedly held early-stage discussions with both Samsung and Intel about producing chips for its devices inside the United States. The news raised the prospect of Samsung winning a slice of Apple’s chip orders, currently dominated by TSMC.

Also Read: TSMC Reports Record Revenue as AI Demand Accelerates

Background: The HBM Race

Samsung has spent the past year trying to close a technology gap with rival SK Hynix in the high-bandwidth memory market. HBM chips are purpose-built for AI workloads, which require enormous data throughput. SK Hynix currently holds an estimated 55% share of the HBM market against Samsung’s roughly 25%.

In February, Samsung announced it had begun mass production of HBM4 chips, the sixth generation of the technology and the most advanced yet. HBM4 is expected to feature in Nvidia’s forthcoming Vera Rubin AI architecture, designed for next-generation data center workloads. Customer feedback on Samsung’s newest products has reportedly been positive, narrowing the performance gap with SK Hynix.

Also Read: Nvidia Unveils Vera Rubin Architecture for Next-Gen AI Data Centers

Supply Crunch Keeps Prices Elevated

Morningstar technology analyst Yu Jing Jie told CNBC that DRAM and NAND memory face acute shortages because AI systems are voracious consumers of both speed and storage. New semiconductor fabrication plants typically require two to three years to reach full production, meaning relief is unlikely in the near term.

That supply constraint is expected to sustain elevated memory prices and support strong margins well into 2027. SK Hynix shares also rallied more than 10% on Wednesday, helping push South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index above 7,000 for the first time on record.

Samsung’s single-session gain is on pace to be the largest in the company’s listed history, according to FactSet data.

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