Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) stumbled Tuesday even after projecting a 19-fold surge in Q2 operating profit, signaling that investors may already be looking past the AI memory boom.
The company said operating profit for the April-to-June period likely reached 89.4 trillion won, or about $58.4 billion, compared with 4.7 trillion won a year earlier. Revenue rose to 171 trillion won from 133.9 trillion won in the prior quarter, helped by strong demand for memory chips used by AI leaders such as Nvidia NASDAQ:NVDA, Google NASDAQ:GOOG and Apple NASDAQ:AAPL.
The stock still fell nearly 5%, as profit-taking and labor costs weighed on sentiment. Samsung earlier agreed to scrap its 1,000% base salary bonus cap and allocate 10.5% of operating profit to bonuses after union pressure. The company also recently outlined a 140 trillion won investment plan in South Korea's Chungcheong region.