Samsung surpasses Nvidia to become the world's most profitable company
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Samsung begins mass production of next-generation enterprise-grade SSDs for Nvidia Vera Rubin.
According to BlockBeats, on July 8th, Samsung Electronics began mass production of its most advanced data center storage hard drive, which will be used in NVIDIA's upcoming Vera Rubin platform. This enterprise-class solid-state drive, named PM1763, was first announced earlier this year at NVIDIA's GTC conference. Samsung also showcased its next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) and low-power SOCAMM2 modules at the time, as part of a comprehensive solution for AI data centers. Samsung stated on Wednesday that the PM1763 features the company's latest V-NAND flash memory chips and a newly developed 4nm controller, offering more than double the read and write speeds of its predecessor. The PM1763 is designed to reduce data latency for advanced processors and AI accelerators. To maintain high-speed performance during AI training and inference, the drive employs a liquid-cooling design.
Samsung released its Q2 earnings forecast: operating profit increased by over 1800% year-on-year, with single-quarter profit exceeding the total of the previous three years.
BlockBeats reported on July 7th that global semiconductor giant Samsung Electronics released extremely strong preliminary financial results for the second quarter. Data shows that, driven by the powerful wave of artificial intelligence (AI), the world's largest memory chip manufacturer is experiencing its most prosperous profit cycle in history. According to the financial report, Samsung's operating profit in the second quarter surged 1810.2% year-on-year, reaching 89.4 trillion won (approximately US$58 billion). This figure not only far exceeded the market's previous expectation of 84.2 trillion won, but also remarkably surpassed the company's total profit for the three years from 2023 to 2025. At the same time, the company's revenue also increased by 129% year-on-year, reaching 171 trillion won. Following Samsung Electronics' earnings forecast, SanDisk (SNDK.O) and Micron Technology (MU.O) saw their US-listed shares decline in after-hours trading. Samsung's explosive performance directly benefits from the near-"thirsty" orders for high-performance memory chips from AI data centers. Industry giants like Nvidia and OpenAI have repeatedly stated publicly that the shortage of memory chips has become a core bottleneck for current AI development. Because major manufacturers prioritize the production capacity of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is designed specifically for AI and offers higher profits, this has conversely squeezed the conventional memory space needed for smartphones, PCs, and enterprise servers. This "capacity squeeze" effect has led to a severe shortage in the global memory market. HSBC data shows that in the second quarter of 2026, the average selling price of DRAM increased by more than 40% compared to the previous quarter, and NAND prices increased by more than 50%; Citi Research gives even higher estimates, at 44% and 53% respectively. Analysts generally believe that this "seller's market" will continue at least until 2027, giving Samsung and its long-time rivals SK Hynix and Micron Technology extremely strong pricing power.
Goldman Sachs: World Model May Become a New Engine for Future AI Infrastructure, Adding New Computing Demands
According to Mars Finance, Goldman Sachs stated in its latest report that "world models" may become the second engine of future AI infrastructure demand. Unlike large language models, which primarily process text and images, world models attempt to understand causal relationships in physical and social systems, such as simulating friction, material behavior, supply chain responses, policy shocks, or corporate competitive strategies. Physical world models will support robotics, logistics, autonomous driving, and industrial design; social world models may be used for strategic extrapolation, investment decisions, governance stress testing, and policy scenario analysis. Goldman Sachs believes that world models will not replace large language models, but rather superimpose new computing demands. If their development speed exceeds expectations, current investment forecasts surrounding computing power and electricity may still be underestimated. (Cailian Press)
predict.fun "Mbappe's probability of winning the 2026 World Cup Golden Boot surpasses Messi's, Haaland rises to third"
According to Odaily Seer's monitoring, the probability of Mbappe winning the 2026 World Cup Golden Boot has risen to 48%, surpassing Messi, with a weekly increase of 22%. Messi's probability of winning the Golden Boot has dropped to 34%, falling to second place. Haaland, on the other hand, has surpassed Kane to rise to third place with a 13% probability. With the World Cup knockout stage nearing its end, the Golden Boot race has reached a crucial turning point: Messi and Mbappe are tied for the top scorer spot with 7 goals each, but Mbappe's higher assist count gives him an advantage under the World Cup Golden Boot selection rules. Therefore, whether Messi can score in the Round of 16 match between Argentina and Egypt, which kicks off at 0:00 Beijing time on July 8th, will be particularly critical. Odaily Seer continuously monitors the prediction market, seeing changes before prices are set.
Multiple factors drove a correction in South Korean stocks: profit-taking by Samsung and SK Hynix, collective withdrawal of foreign capital, and amplified concerns about oversupply risks and fundamentals.
According to BlockBeats, on July 6th, based on Bitget market data, the South Korean stock market has been experiencing a continuous downward correction recently. On July 2nd, the KOSPI index once plummeted by nearly 8%, triggering a trading halt, with SK Hynix falling by over 14% and Samsung by over 9%. On July 3rd, it fell by over 3% in the morning session before rebounding sharply. Today, the South Korean stock market continued its downward trend, falling by over 3% at one point, driven by multiple factors: Samsung and SK Hynix have excessively high weightings, leading to concentrated profit-taking. Currently, the weighting of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, two core AI memory stocks, in the KOSPI has risen to approximately 50%, meaning that fluctuations in the memory sector can cause significant volatility in the entire South Korean index. After a continuous surge in recent months, concentrated profit-taking has become the driving force behind the recent natural correction. US stock market correction sentiment spills over. In the global market, the recent collective correction in US semiconductor, memory chip, and optical communication sectors has triggered a global sell-off in technology stocks. Market concerns include the sustainability of AI capital expenditure and overvaluation. South Korean stocks are highly sensitive to sentiment in the US tech sector and are similarly affected by spillover effects from US market sentiment. The structural fragility of the South Korean market amplifies the decline. The assets of 2x leveraged products tracking Samsung and SK Hynix are enormous, far exceeding the average daily trading volume of the stocks themselves. Forced rebalancing during declines further fuels selling and exacerbates the fall. The high leverage of retail investors combined with margin trading creates a chain reaction, causing frequent extreme volatility in the South Korean stock market. Foreign capital is fleeing South Korea. Recently, foreign investors in South Korea net sold 7.7 trillion won (approximately US$4.98 billion) worth of KOSPI shares on Monday, setting a record for the largest single-day sell-off. Combined with factors such as pressure on the won's exchange rate, this further undermines foreign investor confidence. Oversupply risks raise fundamental concerns. Samsung and SK Hynix plan massive investments in new memory chip factories, totaling tens of billions of dollars. The market worries that a significant increase in future capacity will put downward pressure on memory prices. Meanwhile, demand from major customers such as Nvidia for higher-stack HBM chips has slowed, shaking market confidence in the sustainability of the "AI supercycle."
Samsung Electronics' operating profit this year is expected to exceed the cumulative total of the past 40 years, and the second quarter may set a new record for the highest operating profit in the history of global technology companies.
According to Mars Finance, on July 6th, Kim Yong-kwan, head of the semiconductor business's operational strategy at Samsung Electronics, released optimistic signals at a departmental meeting on July 3rd, stating that this year's operating profit will meet market expectations, and adding that "the cumulative profit over the past 40 years of the semiconductor business is less than this year's profit alone." The market currently expects Samsung Electronics' full-year operating profit for 2026 to be approximately 300 trillion won, with a consensus expectation of 84.6 trillion won for the second quarter—if realized, this would surpass Nvidia's record of $53.536 billion in the first quarter of this year, setting a new record for the highest single-quarter operating profit for a global technology company. Kim Yong-kwan also emphasized that the company continues to invest over 40 trillion won in capital expenditure annually and plans to further expand its investment scale to cope with the continued expansion of demand for AI semiconductors. The combined performance of South Korea's two semiconductor giants is equally remarkable. SK Hynix's second-quarter operating profit is expected to be around 64.4 trillion won, bringing the combined total for both companies to approximately 149 trillion won, approaching 150 trillion won. However, some market analysts point out that the storage sector's stock prices have recently shown signs of peaking and declining. Whether they can rise further depends on whether the earnings significantly exceed expectations. The size and duration of long-term supply contracts and the price trend of storage in the second half of the year will be key variables to watch. Furthermore, SK Hynix's ADRs will be listed on July 10th. HSBC has raised its target price from 2.9 million won to 4 million won, believing that the ADR listing will improve accessibility for global investors and could bring a valuation premium of approximately 20%. JPMorgan Chase points out that the second-quarter earnings season will be a watershed moment for reassessing the storage cycle.