Samsung Electronics Stock Tops 230,000 Won During Trading Hours

Samsung Electronics' stock price touched 230,000 won for the first time during trading hours. As of 9:40 AM KST on the 30th, Samsung Electronics was trading at 229,000 won, up 2,500 won (1.33%) from the previous trading day.

On this day, Samsung Electronics announced that it achieved operating profit close to 54 trillion won from its semiconductor business in the first quarter of this year. The company recorded an operating profit of 57.2328 trillion won and revenue of 133.8734 trillion won on a consolidated basis.

The shortage of memory supply due to the global expansion of AI data centers and rising prices for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) contributed to this strong performance. The sixth-generation HBM4, which Samsung Electronics succeeded in mass-producing first in the industry, boosted profitability.

As the AI market's focus rapidly shifts to Agent AI, the amount of memory equipped is emerging as a key competitive edge that determines the overall performance of AI systems. Kim Dong-won, a researcher at KB Securities, explained that the AI market's focus will rapidly shift from this year towards Agent AI, which makes judgments and executes tasks autonomously.

Kim explained that the memory supply shortage has become evident this month, with customer memory demand fulfillment rates averaging only 50% in the second quarter, a deepening shortage compared to 60% in the first quarter. He added that this situation will not only benefit CPU manufacturers, including Intel, but also position memory companies, including Samsung Electronics, as key beneficiaries of the spread of AI agents.