Samsung Tops $1T Valuation as AI Boom Lifts Shares 10%

Samsung Electronics shares rose more than 10% in South Korea on May 6, 2026, lifting the chipmaker’s market value above US$1 trillion, according to CNBC. The gains came as investors bought AI-related semiconductor stocks following the company’s first-quarter earnings announcement. Samsung became the second Asian company to cross the $1 trillion threshold after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC).

First-Quarter Financial Performance

Samsung’s Q1 results showed operating profit jumped more than eightfold to 57.2 trillion won (US$38.9 billion), while revenue reached 133.9 trillion won (US$91.1 billion).

The company’s Device Solutions (DS) division, which makes memory chips and other semiconductor parts, drove the strong quarter. DS generated more than 90% of total earnings and posted 53.7 trillion won (US$36.5 billion) in operating profit, up from approximately 1 trillion won (US$680 million) a year earlier. This single quarter’s operating profit exceeded Samsung’s full-year operating profit of 43.6 trillion won (US$29.6 billion) in 2025.

Memory Market Dynamics

Samsung attributed the profit jump to tight memory supply. The company expects memory supply to remain well short of demand, with some customers pulling forward orders originally planned for 2027.

In the high-margin High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market—a type of advanced memory used in AI chips—SK Hynix led with a 57% revenue share in the final quarter of the prior year.

Apple’s Chip Sourcing Discussions

The AI boom is prompting Apple to explore chip production alternatives beyond TSMC. According to reports, Apple held early talks with Samsung and Intel as pressure grows on the world’s largest contract chipmaker. Apple discussed Intel’s chipmaking services and visited a Samsung plant being built in Texas, though neither path has yet produced any orders.

Apple’s search for alternative suppliers stems from shortages driven by the AI data center build-out and stronger Mac demand from customers wanting to run AI models locally. Tim Cook stated that the bottleneck is access to advanced manufacturing processes for Apple’s systems-on-a-chip, not memory. This creates an opportunity for Samsung and Intel to win Apple’s business, though Apple retains concerns about moving away from TSMC and may decide not to proceed with alternative suppliers.