Quarterly case: Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor unit beat TSMC on sales, operating profit and margin for the first time in 29 quarters (Samsung DS operating margin ~65.7% vs ~58.1% at TSMC).
Combined market caps of Micron, Samsung and SK hynix exceeded the three largest oil majors (~22% by end-May). Analysts dubbed chips “the new oil of the AI era”.
Country radar KR/TW: • memory/foundry supply talks need long horizons and take-or-pay readiness; • Japan’s equity market also reacts (Kioxia etc.) — competition for APAC capacity rises; • by June–July investors turned more cautious after forecast revisions (Broadcom and the Nvidia/AMD/Micron/Qualcomm chain).
Market Intelligence practice: monitor HBM vs commodity DRAM separately — capacity reallocation at Samsung/SK hynix/Micron hits consumer electronics and product launch timelines.
Source: Global Business Monitoring, issue 2/2026 (HSE Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs). Adapted for Corporate APAC Desk / Country radar.