technology
Samsung Hits $1 Trillion Valuation as AI Memory Chip Demand Drives 10% Share Surge
Samsung Electronics hit a $1 trillion market valuation on Wednesday, becoming only the second Asian company to reach the milestone after TSMC. The jump follows a blockbuster earnings report last week that showed profits eight times higher than a year earlier, fueled by demand for high-bandwidth memory chips critical to AI systems. Reports that Apple is in talks with Samsung and Intel for U.S.
May 6, 9:54 AM·2m read1 source
CNBCAudio version
Tap play to generate a narrated version.
Developing·Limited corroboration so far. This page will refresh as more sources emerge.
Samsung reached a $1 trillion valuation on Wednesday as shares of the South Korean tech giant surged more than 10 percent, driven by surging demand for its memory chips used in artificial intelligence systems. The milestone makes Samsung the second Asian company to cross the trillion-dollar threshold after TSMC, TechCrunch reported.
The news comes on the heels of a blockbuster earnings report released last week, in which Samsung posted profits eight times higher than the same period a year ago.
Every company building AI right now needs chips, and Samsung makes the memory chips that power those AI systems. Demand is surging while supply struggles to keep up, pushing prices higher and boosting Samsung’s profits.
U.S. Soil. Apple has long relied almost exclusively on TSMC in Taiwan for its chip production. If Samsung lands the deal, it would mark a significant shift in the global semiconductor supply chain. At the heart of Samsung’s profit boom is high-bandwidth memory, also known as HBM, a type of chip critical to running AI systems that has dramatically improved the company’s margins.
Competition remains intense. Rival SK Hynix, a South Korean semiconductor company, is aggressively vying for the same market. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are the world’s three largest memory chip makers.
All three companies have pulled investment away from their consumer chip businesses to ramp up production of HBM, which carries substantially higher margins and has become essential to powering large-scale AI infrastructure. Despite Wednesday’s historic surge, Samsung still faces headwinds at home.
