Samsung Electronics invests heavily in research and factory expansion, driven by a surge in memory chip prices and a strategic focus on AI-related semiconductors, amid mixed performance across its divisions and growing investor interest.
Samsung Electronics reported record first-half spending on research and development and factory investment, underscoring how aggressively it is pushing to defend its lead in memory chips even as the business mix inside the group shifts in sharply different directions.
According to the company’s semi-annual filing published on August 14, R&D outlays reached 27.3627 trillion won in the six months to June, up from 18.0641 trillion won a year earlier and the highest half-year figure in Samsung’s history. Capital expenditure also hit a first-half record of 28 trillion won. The scale of spending points to a concentrated effort to reinforce semiconductor infrastructure and support longer-term growth, particularly in the Device Solutions division. Samsung had already signalled in March that it planned to spend at least 110 trillion won on facilities and R&D in 2026, with the money aimed largely at chips for artificial intelligence systems and next-generation memory.
At the same time, the company benefited from the sharp rise in memory prices. Samsung said the average selling price of its flagship memory semiconductors rose 220% from the previous year’s average, helped by tight supply across the industry. Its DRAM market share increased to 39.4% in the first half from 34.0% a year earlier, reflecting the advantage of being the world’s largest producer. Other industry reports cited by Samsung’s competitors and sector analysts have also described a sustained memory upcycle driven by AI data centres, even as consumer markets such as PCs and smartphones begin to feel the strain.
That boom has not helped every part of the group. The same surge in memory prices pushed up costs for Samsung’s smartphone business, where mobile memory prices rose 211% and application processor prices increased 6%. Samsung’s MX division, which makes phones, posted its first quarterly operating loss in the second quarter. The higher component costs lifted smartphone memory procurement to 5 trillion won in the first half, equal to 12.2% of total raw-material costs for the handset unit.
The filing also showed how Samsung’s expanding investor base has followed the stock’s rally. By the end of June, 7.9712 million people held Samsung Electronics shares, about 2.9 million more than a year earlier. That means roughly one in five South Korean adults now owns the stock. Executive pay also reflected the group’s uneven performance. Lee Won-jin, head of the Visual Display division, received the highest first-half compensation among registered and non-registered executives at 7.479 billion won. The company said earlier deferred performance bonuses from 2024 influenced the pay gap between leaders in the semiconductor and smartphone units, with different payout rates set for the two divisions.
Disclaimer: This content is intended for informational purposes only. Readers are advised to exercise their own judgement, conduct due diligence, or consult a qualified expert before acting on any information provided.
