TLDR
- Samsung Electronics stock surged 10.1% to a record close on Monday, June 1, 2026.
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is expected to visit South Korea this week and meet with Samsung, LG, and other Korean tech executives.
- Samsung began shipping samples of its latest HBM4E (high-bandwidth memory) chips to customers, pulling ahead of rivals.
- A union strike threat involving ~48,000 workers was averted after 74% of members approved a new pay deal.
- LG Electronics hit its daily 29.9% limit for the second straight session, while Naver rose 16% on expected Huang meetings.
Samsung Electronics (005930) stock hit a record close on Monday, jumping 10.1% as three separate catalysts landed at the same time. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s expected visit to South Korea this week, a breakthrough in next-gen memory chips, and the end of a looming strike all converged to drive one of the stock’s strongest single-day moves in years.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SMSN.L
The stock pushed Samsung’s market value above 2,000 trillion won, including preferred shares — a milestone that underlines just how much the AI investment narrative has changed the valuation picture for the Korean chipmaker.
Huang is expected to arrive in Seoul later this week. He is scheduled to meet LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and other senior Korean executives. Nvidia is also hosting a “Korean Partner Night” on the sidelines of the COMPUTEX trade show in Taipei, where Samsung and SK Hynix executives will be present.
“Jensen’s visit to Korea has a major implication. Nvidia needs Korea,” said Jeff Kim, analyst at KB Securities.
The visit is not routine. Nvidia last year committed to supplying more than 260,000 of its most advanced AI chips to South Korea’s government and major companies, including Samsung and Hyundai Motor Group.
The HBM4E Factor
On the chip side, Samsung said it has begun shipping industry-first 12-layer HBM4E samples to major global customers. HBM4E is next-generation high-bandwidth memory — the kind of chip that sits alongside advanced AI processors and feeds them data at high speed.
This matters because Samsung has trailed SK Hynix in HBM throughout much of the AI boom. The HBM4E shipment news gave investors a reason to ask whether that gap is finally starting to close.
“Samsung has been valued at a discount to SK Hynix due to its weaker competitiveness in HBM, but the news appears to be supporting share price gains,” said BNK Investment & Securities analyst Lee Min-hee.
Nvidia’s most advanced processors depend on reliable HBM supply. A CEO visit to a memory supplier does not confirm a deal — but it tells investors where the bottleneck sits.
Strike Averted
Adding to the good-news pile-up, Samsung also removed a major labour overhang that had been weighing on the stock. Around 48,000 unionised workers approved a new pay and bonus deal, averting a planned 18-day strike. The vote passed with roughly 74% support.
The deal includes a profit-linked bonus structure, with 10.5% of semiconductor operating profit set aside for special payouts to chip workers.
For investors, the concern was less about labour relations and more about supply. Samsung’s semiconductor plants are central to global memory supply, and any disruption would have hit the company at exactly the wrong time.
A court ruling had already reduced the risk of a full production stoppage by requiring essential staffing at some facilities during any industrial action. The formal ratification removed the last remaining cloud.
The positive mood spread across South Korean tech. LG Electronics hit its daily 29.9% limit for the second straight session, also reaching an all-time high. Naver rose 16% after its top executives were scheduled to meet Huang on Friday.
South Korea’s semiconductor exports surged to a record high in May, helping the country’s total exports post their biggest rise in over four decades.
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