[Edaily Cho Yong Seok Choi Oh-hyun Reporter] SamsungElectronics forecasts that the artificial intelligence (AI) memory supercycle will become even more robust. The company projects that sales of next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) in the third quarter of this year will more than triple compared to the previous quarter. The foundry division signaled that it is on the verge of returning to profitability, with orders more than doubling year-over-year.

SamsungElectronics announced on the 30th, through its consolidated second-quarter earnings release, that it recorded revenue of 171.4995 trillion won and operating profit of 89.4924 trillion won for the second quarter. Both revenue and operating profit reached all-time highs on a quarterly basis.

Of particular note are the semiconductor results. Revenue for the DS Division reached 127.5 trillion won, a 56% increase from the previous quarter. Operating profit stood at 89.2 trillion won, with an operating profit margin of 70%. The semiconductor business accounted for the majority of the company’s total operating profit (89.4924 trillion won).

Of the DS division’s 127.5 trillion won in revenue, the memory business—including HBM, DRAM, and NAND flash—generated 120.8 trillion won. This represents a 62% increase compared to the first quarter (74.8 trillion won), setting a new all-time high. The company explained, “We achieved our highest-ever quarterly performance by actively responding to strong demand, particularly for server-oriented products, driven by the proliferation of Agentic AI.”

During a conference call following the earnings announcement, SamsungElectronics responded to a question about the medium- to long-term memory supply and demand outlook by explaining that the surge in token consumption driven by the spread of Agentic AI is causing demand to expand at an unprecedented rate—not only for AI servers but also for general-purpose computing servers.

SamsungElectronics also stated on the same day, “Industry supply is falling significantly short of customer demand. It is difficult to expect a significant expansion in supply by 2028,” adding, “Considering the demand we’ve received from customers, we forecast that the supply shortage will worsen next year compared to this year and continue through 2028.”

As a result, major customers are increasingly requesting long-term agreements (LTAs), and SamsungElectronics is currently signing contracts that include advance payments—functioning as deposits—on a five-year basis. SamsungElectronics explained, “To strengthen the binding nature of the LTAs, we have included substantial advance payments—which serve as deposits held for multiple years—in the contract terms. We have already received an amount equivalent to about one-quarter of this total.”

For the third quarter, the company projected that sales of sixth-generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM4) would more than triple compared to the second quarter. SamsungElectronics stated, “For HBM4 products, customer evaluations for specific projects have been successfully completed, and demand is expanding rapidly.” Accordingly, SamsungElectronics also forecast that its HBM market share in the second half of the year would become comparable to its overall DRAM market share.

Yoo Hoe-jun, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at KAIST, said, “The fact that we are securing long-term memory contracts and even receiving advance payments indicates that DRAM market demand is robust and that Korean memory is irreplaceable,” adding, “As the AI transformation is still in its early stages, the upward trend in HBM sales is expected to continue.”

The foundry (contract manufacturing) business, which had been considered a “weak link,” is also projected to see the number of orders for its 2-nanometer process more than double this year compared to last year. The company announced that it has secured orders from major AI and high-performance computing (HPC) clients, and that the design of their products has already begun. While it is difficult to predict exactly when the business will return to profitability, the company believes this will be possible in the near future.

However, the Finished Products (DX) division saw revenue decline by 9% from the first quarter to 48 trillion won, and operating profit shifted from a 3 trillion won surplus in the previous quarter to an 800 billion won deficit. This marks the first time the DX division has posted a loss.

In detail, operating profit for the MX and Network businesses plummeted from 2.8 trillion won in the first quarter to a 700 billion won loss in the second quarter. While the Network business saw improved performance compared to both the previous quarter and the same period last year, driven by rising overseas sales, this was offset by cost pressures.

Additionally, the VD Division saw improvements in both revenue and profitability compared to the previous year by proactively responding to demand for major sporting events and launching products in new categories. However, the company explained that while the Home Appliances Division saw revenue growth compared to the previous quarter due to the peak season for air conditioners, profits declined due to increased cost burdens.

For the DX Division as well, the outlook is that once cost pressures begin to ease, the expansion of premium sales and the results of structural improvements will lead to a recovery in profits.

Furthermore, SamsungElectronics’ second-quarter R&D expenses reached a record high of 16 trillion won, a 41% increase from the previous quarter. Net cash stood at 167.59 trillion won as of the end of the second quarter, a 40.5% (48.35 trillion won) increase compared to the end of the first quarter (119.24 trillion won).

SamsungElectroMechanics also rode the AI wave. On the same day, the company announced that its second-quarter operating profit reached 440.4 billion won, a 106.7% increase from the same period last year. Growing demand for multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) used in AI servers and data centers drove these results.