Samsung Electronics estimated its April–June operating profit at 89.4 trillion won ($58 billion), a 1,810% surge from a year earlier and its third consecutive record quarter, as the global race to build artificial-intelligence infrastructure drove insatiable demand for high-bandwidth memory chips. Revenue jumped 129% to 171 trillion won, the company said in preliminary guidance. Yet the results failed to lift sentiment: Samsung shares fell as much as 7% in Seoul, dragging the Kospi index down more than 5%, as investors locked in profits after a rally that had more than doubled the benchmark this year before a 20% correction from its June peak.

The supply-demand imbalance in advanced memory has handed South Korean chipmakers extraordinary pricing power. DRAM average selling prices rose more than 40% quarter-on-quarter and NAND prices climbed over 50%, according to HSBC analysts. With production capacity still constrained, analysts in Seoul and London expect the shortage to persist at least until 2027, supporting earnings. Some market participants in Tokyo and Singapore caution that any delay in AI data-centre projects could puncture the boom, though Counterpoint Research analysts in Seoul see no evidence yet of a broad slowdown in AI infrastructure investment.

The sell-off rippled across the region. Japan’s Nikkei shed more than 1%, pressured by technology losses and a yen that hovered near 162 per dollar, its weakest level in decades. The currency’s slide has kept Tokyo on alert for intervention, and MUFG Bank analysts warned that a weak 30-year government bond auction on Tuesday could accelerate yen selling. The dollar index edged up, while the euro was little changed. Oil prices inched higher, with Brent near $72 a barrel, as traders monitored tensions involving Iran and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, though prices remained well below the peaks of this year’s Middle East conflict. Gold eased to around $4,144 an ounce.

Investors now turn to the release of Federal Open Market Committee minutes on Wednesday, the first under new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, for signals on the US interest-rate trajectory. Samsung’s final earnings report, due at the end of the month, will provide divisional breakdowns and net profit, offering a clearer view of the semiconductor cycle’s durability.