Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix saw their stock prices surge dramatically following Samsung's release of a blowout preliminary earnings report for Q1 2026. Samsung projected an operating profit of approximately 57.2 trillion won ($39 billion), an eightfold increase year-on-year, which significantly beat market expectations. The results were driven by soaring demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and AI data center chips.
Samsung's stock jumped more than 7% to 210,500 won on the news. SK Hynix, which has not yet released its own Q1 figures, surged as much as 15% to 1,050,000 won, outperforming both Samsung and the broader KOSPI index, which itself rose around 7%. The surge reflects investor confidence that SK Hynix will report similarly strong results fueled by the same AI-driven demand.
The earnings beat prompted immediate analyst upgrades. Korea Investment & Securities raised its full-year operating profit estimate for SK Hynix by 28% to 216 trillion won ($146.55 billion), a figure that would be more than four times the company's 2025 results. This revision underscores a rapid sentiment shift in the memory sector, moving from concerns about oversupply to a period of constrained supply and rising prices.
High-bandwidth memory (HBM) has become the key battleground, with tight supply struggling to meet explosive demand from AI infrastructure projects and accelerators like those made by Nvidia. While SK Hynix is seen as a primary supplier to Nvidia, Samsung's record profit suggests it has gained meaningful ground in this critical market.
