Samsung Crosses $1 Trillion as AI Chip Surge Powers Kospi to Record

CNBC reported Wednesday that shares of Samsung Electronics surged more than 10%, lifting the South Korean chip giant’s market capitalization past the $1 trillion mark. The milestone made Samsung only the second Asian company to reach that threshold, joining Taiwan’s TSMC.

Samsung’s Record Quarter Fuels the $1 Trillion Push

The latest share surge built on extraordinary first-quarter results released last week. Samsung’s operating profit climbed more than eightfold to 57.2 trillion South Korean won for the quarter. Revenue hit a record 133.9 trillion won over the same period. Strikingly, that single quarter’s operating profit already exceeded Samsung’s entire full-year 2025 operating profit of 43.6 trillion won.

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Apple Supply Report Adds Further Momentum

An additional catalyst arrived via a Bloomberg report suggesting Apple held early-stage discussions with both Samsung and Intel about producing chips for Apple devices on US soil. The report implied Apple may be exploring options beyond its long-standing reliance on TSMC for chip manufacturing. Investors read the development as a potential windfall for Samsung’s foundry ambitions, adding fuel to an already-hot session.

A Record Milestone With Historical Context

Samsung’s market cap had briefly crossed $1 trillion once before. According to FactSet data cited by CNBC, the company first touched that valuation on February 26, making Wednesday’s return above the mark a reaffirmation rather than a debut. The broader AI investment cycle has driven periodic spikes across the semiconductor sector throughout 2025 and into 2026, with memory and logic chipmakers benefiting from relentless data-center buildout spending.

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Kospi Breaks Above 7,000 on Wide Chip Rally

Samsung was not alone in Wednesday’s advance. Shares of fellow South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix jumped more than 9%, amplifying the session’s gains. The combined strength pushed South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index up more than 5%, clearing the 7,000 level for the first time on record. The milestone underscored how tightly South Korea’s equity market is now tied to global AI infrastructure spending and the fortunes of its dominant chipmakers.

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