Samsung flagged a 783% jump in profit to a record $80 billion (approximately €74 billion), the Korean electronics giant announced, as the AI chip boom drives a sweeping recovery across the semiconductor industry and lifts sales at rival foundry TSMC as well.

The figure marks one of the sharpest profit reversals on record for a major chipmaker. Samsung, which competes across memory, logic foundry and smartphone silicon, said the surge was powered by demand for chips used in artificial intelligence systems — the same force that lifted TSMC's sales in the period.

How large is the profit jump?

A 783% increase means annual profit expanded nearly ninefold. Samsung said the result reached a record $80 billion, its highest profit level to date, according to its earnings announcement reported by Euronews.

For context on scale: the jump restores Samsung to the top tier of global semiconductor profitability after years of depressed memory prices and inventory corrections had compressed its earnings.

What is driving the turnaround?

The report attributes the swing directly to the AI chip boom. Key demand vectors include:

• Chips powering AI training and inference systems
• Memory and logic components feeding data center buildouts
• Broader semiconductor demand recovery alongside TSMC's rising sales

TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker and principal supplier to AI accelerator vendors, also reported higher sales, according to the same report — a signal that the AI-driven upcycle is lifting the industry broadly rather than a single vendor in isolation.

Why does one boom lift two rivals?

Samsung and TSMC compete most directly in contract chip manufacturing, where TSMC holds the leading share of advanced-node orders for AI processors. Samsung also supplies memory — HBM and other DRAM products — that AI system builders purchase in volume. When AI demand surges, both companies capture it through different product lines, which helps explain why one macro trend shows up in two competitors' results simultaneously.

The synchronized strength also suggests the AI buildout remains in an expansion phase: customers are still adding capacity and inventory rather than digesting prior purchases.

What comes next?

Samsung's record result and TSMC's sales growth position both companies to fund heavy capital spending on advanced manufacturing capacity, a dynamic that will shape pricing and competitive positioning across memory and foundry markets as the AI investment cycle matures.