[Edaily Reporter JAEMIN SONG ] As SamsungElectronics and SK hynix prepare to announce their second-quarter earnings next month, expectations are growing that they will once again post record-breaking results. The key points to watch during this earnings season include whether SamsungElectronics will surpass 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit for the first time ever, and whether SK hynix will exceed an operating profit margin of 80%, the highest level in the memory industry.

According to industry sources on the 28th, SamsungElectronics is set to announce its preliminary second-quarter results around the 7th or 8th of next month, while SK hynix plans to release its results toward the end of the same month. Driven by rising memory prices and expanded HBM sales, both companies are expected to set new quarterly records for the second time in a row, following their first-quarter performance.

Securities analysts estimate SamsungElectronics’ second-quarter operating profit to be in the range of 80 trillion to 100 trillion won, while SK hynix’s is projected to be in the high 60 trillion won range to around 70 trillion won. In the case of SamsungElectronics, analysts note that the figures being discussed in the market are significant because they reflect a performance bonus provision of in the high 10 trillion won range for the DS division. Jeong WOOSUNG, an analyst at LS SECURITIES, noted, “The second quarter will reflect both a lagged increase in contract prices for mobile and PC DRAM—which saw limited growth in the first quarter—and a base effect related to performance bonuses.”

Another point of interest in these earnings is profitability. Based on the market consensus today, SK hynix’s operating profit margin is estimated to be in the 76% range; however, some securities firms are projecting operating profit at 69 trillion to 70 trillion won, leading to forecasts that the operating profit margin could approach 80%. Earlier, Micron—a leading indicator of memory market conditions—recorded an operating profit margin of 80.4% in the third quarter of its fiscal year, up 12.8 percentage points from the previous quarter. The industry is watching closely to see if SK hynix can surpass this record.

Factors that will help gauge market conditions in the second half of the year are also expected to be revealed. In particular, second-quarter HBM4 sales are considered a key indicator for forecasting second-half performance. While most HBM sales currently come from HBM3E, the share of HBM4 is expected to expand rapidly starting in the second half of this year. Since both SamsungElectronics and SK hynix are supplying HBM4 to major customers, attention is focused on the contribution of HBM4 revenue, plans to expand supply, and customer demand forecasts in these earnings announcements.

Whether long-term supply contracts will be expanded is another key point of interest. Micron recently announced that it has expanded its Strategic Customer Agreements (SCAs), which run through 2030, and included “take-or-pay” and minimum price guarantee clauses in some of these contracts. This demonstrates that customers are moving to secure long-term supply amid the AI memory shortage and is interpreted as a signal that the memory market is shifting toward a supplier-driven structure. The industry is paying close attention to the possibility that SamsungElectronics and SK hynix will also issue statements regarding the expansion of their long-term supply contracts.