The surge places the South Korean firm among the world’s most valuable technology companies and only the second in Asia to reach that level after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

In early trading in Seoul, Samsung’s value climbed to about 1,500 trillion won, or roughly $1.03 trillion. Shares rose by around 12% to 14%, extending a rally that has built steadily over the past year.

Trading volumes picked up as investors reacted to the latest growth in artificial intelligence-linked stocks in the United States overnight.

The South Korean market also moved strongly. The Kospi index jumped more than 5%, pushing above the 7,000 level for the first time. Semiconductor peers SK Hynix and global chip giant TSMC also held near record highs, as the global appetite for AI computing power continues to lift the sector.

Samsung, alongside SK Hynix and TSMC, supplies much of the memory and processing capacity behind data centres and advanced computing systems.

That position has helped shift global investor attention towards Asia’s chipmakers, particularly as demand for high-performance memory continues to tighten.

“The trillion-dollar threshold carries material weight beyond the symbolism,” said Dave Mazza, chief executive officer at Roundhill Investments in New York. “More broadly, it reflects a market judgment that memory’s role in the AI infrastructure stack is structural, not cyclical.”

Recent financial performance has strengthened that view, as Samsung’s semiconductor division recorded a sharp growth in profit in the March quarter, rising about 48 times compared with the previous year.

The company attributed the performance to strong orders from AI data centres and higher contract prices across memory products.

Market analysts expect the growth to continue, but supply in the memory chip industry is still tight, and pricing trends have moved upward.

Sam Konrad, investment manager at Jupiter Asset Management, said: “If investors do some work on Samsung Electronics we think they will conclude that the investment opportunity is attractive even if they have missed its performance up until now,” said Sam Konrad, investment manager at Jupiter Asset Management.

“The memory market is currently undersupplied, and Samsung said that 2027 will see tighter supply and demand than 2026, so prices for NAND and DRAM are likely to continue rising.”

There is also growing interest from outside the semiconductor sector. Reports show that Apple has held discussions about using Samsung to manufacture key processors in the United States, potentially reducing reliance on its long-term partner TSMC.

Foreign investors have played a noticeable role in the latest rally, boosting Samsung valuation. Market data showed net inflows of about 3.1 trillion won into Kospi equities in a single day.

The South Korean won also strengthened, gaining more than 1% against the US dollar to become one of the strongest Asian currencies in the session.

Global views have also supported the move. On Wall Street, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record highs, with semiconductor and AI-related stocks leading gains.

Despite the strong performance, Samsung’s mobile and display divisions are facing challenges from high material costs and competition. At the same time, labour tensions have emerged, with workers reportedly threatening an 18-day general strike over profit sharing linked to the chip boom.

Even so, market expectations are upbeat. Analysts estimate Samsung’s share price could rise further over the next year, with projections of about 22% upside. The stock currently trades at roughly six times forward earnings, down from over 14 times last year.

Samsung’s rise, together with SK Hynix, has helped make South Korea one of the most closely watched equity markets globally. Together, the two firms account for a large share of the Kospi index and enhance its direction.

Mark Davids, APAC head of emerging markets and Asia Pacific equities at JPMorgan Asset Management, said: “Samsung’s profits reflect a very unusual period where these companies can achieve outsized profits,” he said.

The company said on Tuesday it is projecting an operating profit of 57.2 trillion won ($38.2 billion) for the January to March period.

This is far ahead of expectations and more than eight times higher than the 6.69 trillion won it reported a year earlier. It also exceeds the company’s total profit for all of last year.

This would be Samsung’s strongest quarterly result on record. Its previous high stood at 20 trillion won, reached in the final quarter of 2025.

Demand from data centres has pushed prices higher. Companies building AI systems buy large volumes of memory chips, stretching supply. As a result, prices for DRAM chips rose sharply in the first quarter, with estimates pointing to increases of more than 50%.

“As customers anticipated further increases, actual contract prices came in higher, leading to the beat,” Kim Sunwoo, a senior analyst at Meritz Securities, said.

Samsung appears to be benefiting across most of its business. Analysts estimate its memory division generated about 54 trillion won in operating profit during the quarter.

Its mobile unit also held up, reporting around 4 trillion won in profit, though slightly lower than a year ago. However, its logic chip business is still under pressure and is expected to post a loss.

Currency movements have also helped. The South Korean won has fallen to a near 17-year low against the U.S. dollar, lifting the value of overseas earnings when converted back.

Even so, there are signs that the pace of growth may slow. The high cost of energy linked to the conflict in the Middle East has added pressure on production. At the same time, there are concerns that customers may begin to push back against high chip prices.

“There are growing concerns about a peak-out in memory price increases. It does appear that we are now past the initial upcycle phase and into a later stage,” said Ryu Young-ho, a senior analyst at NH Investment & Securities.

Recent data support that view. Spot prices for DRAM chips eased last week, noting that buyers are struggling to keep up with current price levels.

New technology could also affect demand. Google recently introduced a memory-saving system known as TurboQuant, which may reduce the amount of memory needed for AI workloads.

Samsung has also been working to strengthen its position in high-bandwidth memory chips, which are used in advanced AI processors.

The company began shipping its latest HBM4 chips to Nvidia in February, narrowing the gap with its main opponent, SK Hynix. Still, these advanced chips account for less than 10% of its DRAM revenue, meaning most of the profit is still coming from standard memory products.

In the market, Samsung’s shares rose 1.8% following the earnings outlook, outperforming the index. Shares in SK Hynix also increased.

Despite recent challenges, Samsung’s stock is still significantly higher this year, building on strong gains recorded in 2025.

The company is expected to release full details of its first-quarter results on April 30.