After initially falling behind smaller SK Hynix in the early days of the AI race, the company has been mounting a comeback
Published Thu, Feb 19, 2026 · 12:40 PM
[TOKYO] Samsung Electronics shares jumped to a fresh record high on Thursday (Feb 19), after local media reported that the firm is negotiating a price for its latest artificial intelligence (AI) memory chip that’s up to 30 per cent higher than the previous generation.
The chipmaker’s stock rose as much as 5.4 per cent on the Korea Exchange, as the market reopened following a three-day holiday. Samsung is looking to price its HBM4 at around US$700 per unit, according to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper. Samsung declined to comment on the media report.
The move comes as concerns over business disruption from AI eased and positive developments in the industry continue to build. Samsung customer Nvidia got a boost on Wednesday after news that Meta Platforms has agreed to deploy “millions” of its AI processors over the next few years.
Meanwhile, Apple is accelerating the development of three new wearable devices in a shift towards AI-powered hardware.
The report on Samsung’s HBM4 once again underscores the industry’s “pricing power”, according to Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets. “It is a sign that the AI memory market is still tight, and that Samsung believes it has regained some pricing leverage at the premium end.”
A shortage in memory chips has been bolstering Samsung and SK Hynix, helping to drive South Korea’s benchmark Kospi gauge up 34 per cent this year, making it the world’s best-performing stock market.
After initially falling behind smaller SK Hynix in the early days of the AI race, Samsung has been mounting a comeback. Just last week, Samsung said that it started mass production of HBM4 chips and had shipped commercial products to customers.
SK Hynix had set the price of HBM4 for Nvidia in the mid-$500 range in August but may move to match Samsung’s higher number, Chosun Ilbo said, citing unidentified people in the industry.
The US$700 price tag implies an operating profit margin on Samsung’s HBM4 of 50 to 60 per cent, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Masahiro Wakasugi wrote in a note. “The gap between average selling prices for Samsung and SK Hynix will be smaller in 2026 if Samsung supplies more HBM chips to Nvidia, as those prices should be higher than for other customers.” BLOOMBERG
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