Samsung Is Now A Trillion-Dollar Juggernaut, As Conventional DRAM Quietly Out-Earns The HBM Everyone Is Obsessed With Rohail Saleem • at EDT Add on Google Why beat your rival, when you can join it? / Image credits - David Lloyd Samsung has finally entered the hallowed trillion-dollar club, courtesy of the memory-driven tailwind that continues to emanate from AI-focused data centers, going on to permeate nearly every facet of the global consumer electronics industry. Samsung is worth $1.2 trillion right now and, continues to close in on Tesla's valuation, courtesy of the relentless global demand for memory resources As per a tabulation by CompaniesMarketCap, Samsung is worth $1.21 trillion right now, and remains poised to overtake Tesla is the world's tenth most valuable company. Related Story Apple M3 Ultra Mac Studio Only Available In The 96GB Memory Configuration Now As Apple Hoards Memory For M5-Based MacsThis comes as the operating profit of Samsung's semiconductor unit in Q1 2026 surged by an unbelievable 48x year-over-year on record-breaking demand for memory products, with total operating profit exploding by 756 percent on an annual basis. Of course, in what was the most notable part of Samsung's latest earnings call, the company declared that conventional DRAM products were delivering higher profits than HBM-based ones right now. This is because conventional DRAM prices are being negotiated quarterly right now, while HBM prices are locked on an annual basis. This comes as SemiAnalysis reported just a few days back that LPDDR5 contract prices were recently hovering at around $10/GB after undergoing a 3x increase since Q1 2025. What's more, the firm expected this trend of price hikes to continue well into 2027. While DRAM pricing for the second quarter of 2026 is still being finalized, TrendForce expects mobile DRAM prices to record a QoQ growth of between 93 percent and 98 percent. Assuming a baseline of $10/GB, a typical LPDDR5 module is now expected to cost between $19.3/GB and $19.8/GB in the second quarter of 2026. What's more, as per another report, memory vendors are now signing LTAs with a "contract pricing ceiling of ~$1,350 and floor of ~$500" per 64GB of DRAM. This equates to a maximum price of $21/GB and a minimum price of $7.8/GB. It is hardly a surprise, therefore, that analysts at KB Securities now believe Samsung will earn a total operating profit of 327 trillion won ($226 billion) in 2026 and an unfathomable 488 trillion won ($337 billion) in 2027, thereby becoming the most profitable company globally, eclipsing NVIDIA's expected operating profit by a material, if narrow, margin. About the : Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur. Follow on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds. Further Reading Mobile DRAM Prices Expected To Increase By ~100% Quarter-Over-Quarter, As Long-Term Agreements Now Getting Signed At Prices As High As $21/GB DDR6 Memory Development Kicks off As Samsung, SK Hynix & Micron Race Towards Commercialization By 2028-2029 Apple Held The Line On MacBook Pricing While Microsoft Hiked Surface Prices, But The iPhone 18 Is Where The Streak Reportedly Breaks Apple Quietly Scoops Up Any Available LPDDR5 Supply While Freezing iPhone Prices, Pushing Chinese OEMs To Kill Their Ultra Flagships Read all on Samsung Is Now A Trillion-Dollar Juggernaut, As Conventional DRAM Quietly Out-Earns The HBM Everyone Is Obsessed With
