Samsung Electronics became a big topic after earning about 50 trillion KRW from semiconductors alone in the first quarter of 2026. This performance is the biggest ever on a quarterly basis, and it is similar to the annual 58.89 trillion KRW in 2018. In other words, Samsung Electronics made operating profit close to one full year's result in just one quarter. Behind this fast increase are the recovery of the memory market and expanded sales of high-bandwidth memory, HBM. The article analyzed that the growth in operating profit accelerated even more along with expanded HBM sales. Samsung Electronics led in technology competition too by mass shipping HBM4 last February for the first time in the industry. Also, at NVIDIA's annual developer conference GTC 2026 last month, it unveiled the next-generation HBM4E. With these results, Samsung Electronics entered the global Big Tech Top 5 level in quarterly operating profit. However, Samsung Electronics' market capitalization of 830 billion dollars is about 19% of NVIDIA's 4.3 trillion dollars. So the market thinks Samsung Electronics has strong valuation appeal because its value is low compared with its performance.
원문 보기Samsung Electronics made 57 trillion KRW (≈$39B) in just three months
Samsung Electronics made 57.2 trillion KRW during the first three months of this year. Hard to picture, right? The Korean government spends about 60 trillion KRW a year on national defense, so Samsung alone made almost that much in just one quarter.
Revenue: 133 trillion KRW, operating profit: 57.2 trillion KRW. It nearly matched the company’s all-time record annual operating profit from all of 2018 (58.9 trillion KRW) in just one quarter, three months.
But do you know what these numbers really mean? Why did it suddenly start making so much money, is this temporary, and why is Nvidia — which makes a similar amount of money — valued at five times more than Samsung? Let’s unpack it one by one.
No. 1 Apple $50.9B · No. 2 Nvidia $44.3B · No. 3 Microsoft $38.3B · No. 4 Samsung Electronics ~$38.0B · No. 5 Alphabet $35.9B
2026 Q1 big tech operating profit — Samsung in 4th place?
Samsung Electronics entered the big tech top 5, overtaking Alphabet, Google’s parent company.
DDR5 vs GDDR6X vs HBM3E — compare at a glance
Check out the performance gap between DDR5, GDDR6 and HBM in the graph below.
DDR5 vs GDDR6X vs HBM3E — What’s the difference?
Compare the meaning behind the numbers in text.
| Metric | 💻 DDR5 | 🎮 GDDR6X | 🤖 HBM3E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bus width | 64bit — 1-lane road | 384bit — 6-lane highway | 1,024bit — 32-lane highway |
| Bandwidth | 77 GB/s | 1,008 GB/s | 1,170 GB/s (15× DDR5) |
| Power consumption (24GB) | ~10W | ~60W (needs 12 chips) | ~15W (one stack is enough) |
| Structure | Flat layout (2D) | Flat layout (2D) | Vertical stacking (3D) – 16 floors like an apartment |
| Main use | Regular computers, servers | Gaming GPU, graphics | AI training/inference, data centers |
Why does AI devour this memory?
GPU compute speeds are nearly doubling every year, but the speed of fetching data from memory is only growing by about 25–30% annually. This is called the 'Memory Wall'.
No matter how fast a GPU can calculate, if memory can’t deliver data quickly enough, the GPU has to sit there waiting. It’s just like how cars can be incredibly fast on a highway, but if the tollgate is only one lane, everything gets jammed.
Large language models like GPT have to load hundreds of billions of numbers into memory and call them up constantly. HBM is effectively the only solution to this bottleneck.
The HBM market exploded from about $4 billion (5.6 trillion KRW) in 2023 to $46.7 billion (65 trillion KRW) in 2025 — more than 10x growth in just two years. Only three companies in the world can make it: Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron.
In 2026, HBM4 mass-produced first in the world by Samsung Electronics has a 2,048-bit bus width (2x the previous generation) and bandwidth of up to 2TB/s. It’s like going from 32 lanes to 64 lanes.
Why do Samsung Electronics earnings ride a roller coaster?
Hover over the dots to see the exact figures. From the 2023 bottom to the 2026 rebound, the roller coaster is visible at a glance.
What makes this AI supercycle different?
Previous cycles were driven by demand like "people are buying more smartphones" and "data centers are expanding." Eventually, those markets become saturated. But AI is different. As AI models like GPT, Gemini, and Claude keep getting larger, memory demand is growing exponentially, and new sources of demand such as AI agents, autonomous driving, and robotics are continuously emerging.
On top of that, the structural supply shortage is hard to resolve. HBM consumes 3 times more wafers than conventional DRAM, yet its yield is only 65%. So even if fabs run at full capacity, the actual chip output remains low.
The Bank of Korea also described it as "the strongest supercycle since the 2000s." DRAM prices surged by as much as 10x in a single year.
① Demand explosion (new technology emerges) → ② Supply shortage · price spike (margin 55–60%) → ③ Capex boom → ④ Fab completion · oversupply · price collapse → back to ① (about a 4-year cycle)
Samsung vs SK Hynix — three reversals
In the HBM market, leadership between Samsung and SK Hynix has surprisingly changed hands multiple times.
2013: SK Hynix invents HBM
Developed jointly with AMD, SK Hynix completed the world's first HBM. Samsung had not yet joined the market.
2016: Samsung takes the lead with HBM2
Samsung became the first in the world to mass-produce HBM2. Samsung HBM2 was used in NVIDIA's V100.
2019: Samsung's critical misjudgment
Samsung management disbanded the HBM R&D team, saying there was "no market potential." At the same time, SK Hynix kept investing. That 2–3 year gap changed everything.
2022–2024: SK Hynix dominates
SK became the first to mass-produce HBM3 and secured exclusive supply for NVIDIA's H100. Samsung failed testing due to overheating issues. Market share: SK 62% / Micron 21% / Samsung 17%.
2026.2: Samsung mass-produces HBM4 first in the world
1c DRAM + in-house 4nm foundry + TSV low voltage = three cutting-edge processes deployed at the same time. 11.7Gbps (46% above the standard). However, volume is still Samsung 30% vs SK 70%.
Samsung Electronics vs NVIDIA — by the numbers
Hover over each item to see detailed figures. The difference in bar length shows the gap between the two companies.
If they make about the same amount of money, why is NVIDIA valued 5x higher?
Even when companies earn the same amount, the value the market assigns can be completely different.
| Metric | 🏭 Samsung Electronics | |
|---|---|---|
| Business model | Design + manufacturing (runs factories directly) | |
🧠 NVIDIA Design only (fabless, outsourced to TSMC) | ||
| Core moat | Factories + technology | |
| Profit pattern | Cyclical (58T→6T→57T) | |
So what does this actually mean for those of us living in Korea?
Samsung Electronics alone accounts for about 20% of Korea’s total exports and about 20% of the KOSPI’s market capitalization.
When semiconductor exports rise, more dollars flow into Korea → stronger KRW. For those sending money back home, it’s a double-edged sword. When the won strengthens, you get fewer dollars, yen, or baht when you exchange it.
During the 2018 supercycle, Korea’s economic growth rate was 2.9%; in 2023, a downturn year, it was 1.4%. Samsung Electronics’s earnings are not just one company’s report card — they are a thermometer for the Korean economy.
Whenever you hear "Samsung Electronics earnings" in the news, it’s a story connected to this country’s exports, exchange rates, employment, and your everyday life.
Even if two companies make the same amount of money, whether those profits can continue is what separates market valuations. Samsung Electronics is a 'factory that makes things well,' while NVIDIA is an 'ecosystem you can’t leave' — and the market assigns a higher value to the latter.
We will tell you how to live in Korea
Please give lots of love to gltr life