[Samsung's Profit Surge Fails to Ease Concerns, Stock Plunge Drags KOSPI Index Down 6%] Odaily Planet Daily News – South Korea's stock market saw Samsung Electronics release its preliminary Q2 earnings this morning, reporting a staggering 19-fold year-on-year surge in operating profit, surpassing the total profits of the past three years. Specifically, Samsung forecasted Q2 operating profit at 89.4 trillion won (YoY +1810.2%), exceeding market expectations of 87.3 trillion won. However, the company's stock price plummeted sharply as the results failed to alleviate market concerns over the sustainability of the AI-driven chip boom. Samsung's stock price plunged more than 8% during early trading, while competitor SK Hynix's stock also dropped 7.3%, dragging South Korea's KOSPI index down by 6%. Analysts attributed Samsung's weak stock performance to overly high market expectations—after accounting for employee bonus provisions, profits driven by record-breaking memory chip prices could have exceeded 90 trillion won. Additionally, there are concerns that the construction of AI data centers may slow down. Albert Yong, Managing Partner at Petra Capital Management, commented: 'Samsung's strong performance had already been widely anticipated by the market and was largely priced into the stock's pre-earnings rally. Investors remain worried about the sustainability of the AI boom and the risk of a potential slowdown in AI infrastructure spending by major U.S. tech companies.' (Jin10)