[Anchor]
Samsung Electronics has released its second-quarter earnings. Operating profit reached 89.5 trillion won, marking an all-time high for the third consecutive quarter. However, the stock market failed to reflect this, and the Kospi closed below the 5,600 mark despite an intraday rebound.
Reporter Lee Seong-hoon has the story.
[Reporter]
Samsung Electronics posted record-breaking performance for the third straight quarter in the second quarter of this year, with revenue of 171.5 trillion won and an operating profit of 89.5 trillion won.
The figures also surpassed market expectations.
The semiconductor business led the strong earnings.
The Device Solutions division achieved a historic performance, posting 127.5 trillion won in revenue and 89.2 trillion won in operating profit.
This means the semiconductor business generated the vast majority of the company-wide operating profit.
Driven by expanded investments in AI data centers, sales of HBM, server DRAM, and NAND flash increased, while the foundry and system LSI businesses also saw improved performance thanks to growing demand from client companies.
On the other hand, the Device eXperience division—responsible for smartphones, TVs, and home appliances—recorded an operating loss of 800 billion won despite 48 trillion won in revenue.
Although sales of premium products such as the Galaxy S26 series increased, rising memory prices heightened the burden of component costs, resulting in the company's first-ever quarterly deficit since its founding.
Samsung Electronics projected that strong demand for AI semiconductors will continue in the second half of the year, backed by the expanded supply of HBM4.
However, Samsung's stellar performance could not prevent a market downturn.
The Kospi briefly attempted to reclaim the 6,000 mark during the session, but it gave up all its gains and ultimately closed down 1.2% at 5,593.
Over three days, the Kospi plummeted by 1,162 points, or more than 17%, as volatility persisted.
While foreign and institutional investors turned to net buying, it was not enough to offset individual investors' net selling of over 1 trillion won.
The Kosdaq also finished the session down 2.7% at 644.
(Video by Kim Jun-hee)
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