On July 7, Samsung announced its preliminary financial estimates for the second quarter of 2026, outlining an operating result that projects it to the top of the global rankings.
Between April and June, the company expects to record an operating profit of 89.4 trillion won, equivalent to about 53.8 billion euros.
This allows the Asian company to claim the title of most profitable company in the world on a quarterly basis.
Samsung earns more than NVIDIA, it’s a record
Until now, the first position was firmly held by NVIDIA, which had closed the first quarter of the year with an operating profit of about 53.6 billion euros.
While waiting for the GPU leader to release its results for the second quarter, the margin estimated by Seoul appears sufficient to surpass the latest figures of the main competitor in terms of pure profitability.
The driving force behind such a result lies in a very specific market phenomenon, namely the steep rise in memory chip prices. The massive expansion of artificial intelligence has created an unprecedented demand for hardware components specifically needed to power servers and high-performance computing accelerators.
Being one of the three largest global producers of such semiconductors, Samsung has benefited enormously from this expansion phase of the tech economy.
Currently, market demand continues to run at rates well above supply capacity. This demand-supply imbalance has continuously pushed prices higher over the past year, driving the group’s profitability to unprecedented heights.
Unprecedented annual estimates
Economic assessments are not limited to the just-concluded quarter, but chart a trajectory for the entire calendar year that assumes historic proportions.
According to projections circulated by analysts, Samsung’s total profits for 2026 could surpass the notable threshold of 199.6 billion euros.
If this figure is confirmed at the end of the fiscal year, the profit earned in just 12 months would be higher than the sum of all profits accumulated by the company in the last forty years of its operating history combined.
To obtain a definitive picture and analyze the individual balance sheet items in depth, investors will have to wait until the end of the current month, when the Asian group will publish the complete and detailed financial document relating to the spring quarter.
