Samsung Smashes Expectations with Record Q2 Profit, Driven by AI Boom

In the second half of 2022 and the first half of 2023, numerous semiconductor companies issued quarterly earnings warnings due to factors such as economic slowdown, declining market demand, semiconductor overcapacity, and excessive inventory. Notably, Samsung issued earnings warnings before announcing its fourth-quarter 2022 and first-quarter 2023 financial results to mitigate significant market fluctuations caused by revenue falling substantially below expectations.

Recently, Samsung released its earnings guidance for the second quarter of 2024, reporting consolidated sales of approximately 74 trillion KRW, surpassing the 71.92 trillion KRW of the first quarter of 2024 and the 60.01 trillion KRW of the second quarter of 2023. Additionally, the consolidated operating profit of around 10.4 trillion KRW exceeded the 6.61 trillion KRW of the first quarter of 2024 and the 0.67 trillion KRW of the second quarter of 2023, significantly surpassing market expectations.

Samsung has benefited from the rapid growth of the global artificial intelligence (AI) market and the rebound in memory demand, likely making this the strongest sales and operating profit growth for Samsung in recent years. Sales increased by 23.31% year-on-year, maintaining over 70 trillion KRW for two consecutive quarters. Operating profit soared by 1452% year-on-year, far exceeding the market average expectation of 8.55 trillion KRW, marking the first time since the third quarter of 2022 (10.85 trillion KRW) that quarterly operating profit surpassed 10 trillion KRW, even exceeding the total operating profit of 6.57 trillion KRW for the entire year of 2023.

On July 31, Samsung will officially release the detailed financial report for the second quarter of 2024, providing a more comprehensive performance overview.