Samsung reached a $1 trillion market valuation on Wednesday after shares surged more than 10%, making it only the second Asian company to cross the threshold after TSMC. The milestone follows a first-quarter earnings report showing profits eight times higher than a year earlier, driven overwhelmingly by AI-related chip demand.
At the centre of the boom is high-bandwidth memory, a chip architecture essential to running large-scale AI systems. Samsung, alongside rivals SK Hynix and Micron, has shifted investment away from consumer chips to prioritise HBM production, which carries significantly higher margins. Reports that Apple is exploring Samsung and Intel as potential U.S.-based chip manufacturers provided additional momentum to Wednesday’s share price surge.
Headwinds remain, however. Workers are threatening an extended strike over profit-sharing, and Samsung’s own consumer electronics divisions face rising costs from the same chip shortage powering its record gains.