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Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) rose as much as 6.5% after shipping 12-layer HBM4E samples to major global customers. The company says the chip reaches up to 16Gbps and targets next-generation AI workloads.

South Korea's KOSPI closed at 7,812.49 on May 21, rising 8.37% in a session steep enough to trigger a buy-side circuit breaker. Samsung Electronics' resolution of a months-long performance-bonus dispute and Nvidia's better-than-expected Q1 FY2027 results catalyzed the rally simultaneously, reversing five consecutive sessions of losses that began with a sell-circuit near the 8,000 level on May 15.

KOSPI 200 futures plunged 5.13% to 1,112.46 at 09:19 KST on May 18, triggering the sell-side sidecar for the second consecutive session. The KOSPI cash index recovered from an intraday low of -4.7% to close at 7,516.04 (+0.31%), as domestic retail buyers absorbed over KRW 2.5 trillion in foreign selling. The USD/KRW rate crossed 1,502, re-breaching the 1,500 level, with foreign investors recording eight straight days of net selling totaling over KRW 4 trillion.

South Korea's Prime Minister Kim Min-seok issued a public ultimatum May 17, warning that May 18 talks at the Central Labor Relations Committee are 'the last chance' to avert a general strike by 50,000 Samsung Electronics workers scheduled for May 21. Samsung shares slid roughly 8% on strike risk, with the dispute centered on a stark bonus gap: 607% of annual salary for the memory unit versus 50–100% for foundry and System LSI workers.

South Korea's KOSPI closed at a record 7,981.41 on May 14, its second consecutive all-time high, bringing the 8,000-point threshold within 0.24%. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led the rally as Nvidia's H200 China export authorization spotlighted Korean HBM suppliers as direct beneficiaries; the National Pension Service added roughly ₩50 trillion (~$36 billion) in two weeks.

South Korea's KOSPI closed at a record 7,822.24 on May 11, adding 324 points (+4.32%) as semiconductor stocks repriced after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged 5.51% on May 8. SK Hynix cleared 190,000 KRW (+11%) and Samsung Electronics crossed 280,000 KRW (+6%), putting the 8,000 level within 2.2% reach.

South Korea's KOSPI touched a record 7,531.88 on Thursday before closing up 1.43% at 7,490.05. The rally pushed Korea's total market cap to $4.59 trillion, surpassing Canada to become the world's seventh-largest equity market, just ten days after overtaking the UK.

Samsung Electronics became the 13th company globally to top $1 trillion in market capitalization, with shares surging 14.41% to ₩264,000. The KOSPI closed at an all-time high of 7,384.56 (+6.45%), with foreign investors recording ₩3.53 trillion in net purchases — one of the largest single-day inflows in Korean market history. AI infrastructure-driven structural demand and Samsung's reported foundry talks with Apple were the twin catalysts.

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) reported KRW 133.9 trillion in Q1 revenue and KRW 57.2 trillion in operating profit, both records, as AI memory demand and higher ASPs lifted the chip division. The print resets the bar for Asian semis because HBM and server-memory supply are again driving the earnings cycle.

Perplexity said on March 27, 2026 that its APIs now power Samsung's Browsing Assist inside Samsung Browser on Galaxy Android and Windows. Perplexity says the rollout reaches more than 1 billion Samsung devices through a custom endpoint and single-tenant cluster with zero data retention, while Samsung describes a browser assistant that understands page context, manages tabs, searches history, and bridges mobile-to-PC browsing in the US and South Korea.

Samsung says it will transition global manufacturing into AI-Driven Factories by 2030. The roadmap combines digital twin simulations, AI agents, and in-factory companion robots to optimize production site by site.

Soaring AI data center demand for DRAM and HBM chips is driving a global memory shortage that will push the average smartphone price 14% higher to an all-time record of $523, while eliminating sub-$100 handsets entirely.