Investors locked in gains after Samsung’s Q2 profit jumped 19-fold year-over-year, missing elevated expectations amid AI chip rally concerns.
Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) shares fell as much as 10% in Seoul after reporting a preliminary operating profit of $58 billion for the April–June quarter, a 19-fold increase from a year earlier. The results exceeded analyst estimates but disappointed investors expecting stronger growth amid an AI-driven rally in chip stocks.
The company’s profit surge followed a near 150% stock gain this year, driven by high-bandwidth memory supply constraints for data centers. Analysts noted the 6% beat over estimates failed to justify lofty valuations, triggering profit-taking. Peers Micron (MU), Sandisk (SNDK), and Western Digital (WDC) also declined in premarket trading.
Samsung’s earnings serve as a bellwether for the AI trade, with supply bottlenecks expected to persist into 2027. Concerns over sustained sales and margin growth weighed on sentiment, despite the record profit print.