Shares of chip maker Samsung Electronics (BC94) [London listed GDRs] are on fire, hitting all-time highs as investors pour capital into the stock.
In Thursday trading, its London listed GDRs hit $3,244, an all-time high, passing their previous $3162 best. The main stock hit ₩190,000, or Korean Won. For context, the grand prize in series 1 of Netflix Korean hit Squid Game was ₩45.6 billion.
| Samsung Electronics (BC94) | Price: $3,244 (+3%) | Mkt cap: ₩1,270.93tn ($436bn) |
What’s driving the rally
Price hikes for next‑generation high‑bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, or HBM4. We flagged this as a headwind for Cisco (CSCO) recently, as a buyer, but it’s very much a tailwind for Samsung and other HBM4 manufacturers – think TSMC (TSM), Micro Technology (MU), and market leader SK Hynix (000660).
Samsung is said to be negotiating prices of around $700 per unit, up to 30% above HBM3 prices. That’s also a sharp hike on the $550 levels SK Hynix is believed to have set with its early supply to Nvidia (NVDA). New SK Hynix HBM4 chip deals are expected to rise towards Samsung ranges.
This significantly brightens profit prospects for HBM4 suppliers as they ramp mass production.
Tight supply
The price surge comes amid increasingly tight global memory supply and soaring demand from AI models, where HBM is essential for high‑performance processors.
Samsung began mass production of HBM4 earlier this month, positioning the firm to capture a larger share of the AI‑driven memory boom expected to continue through 2026.
Rising prices across both HBM and traditional DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) products have bolstered chipmakers’ pricing power and profitability.
Analyst forecasts cited in recent reports project Q1 operating profit of roughly ₩32 trillion ($24 billion) for Samsung and more than ₩28 trillion for SK Hynix. This could set the stage for record quarterly results for both companies.
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