Samsung's Big Tesla Order Fuels Recovery Bets Despite Chip Woes
The World's Data Center Capital Has Residents Surrounded
An Abandoned Art-Deco Landmark in Buffalo Awaits Revival
Budapest's Most Historic Site Gets a Controversial Rebuild
San Francisco in Talks With Vanderbilt for Downtown Campus
Boston's Dumpsters Overflow as Trash-Strike Summer Drags On
Its stock has risen 9% since news about the agreement on Monday, bringing Samsung's gains in July to over 20% and putting the stock on track for its best month in more than four years. Samsung accounted for more than half of July's gains in Korea's stock benchmark Kospi, underscoring growing investor enthusiasm.
The Tesla deal is significant as it marks a shift for the ailing foundry business — from relying on captive internal orders to deeper external engagements, Citigroup analysts said in a report. A successful implementation would boost Samsung's prospects for generating more external clients and validate its investment in a US plant.
'I think market basically paid not even zero value — negative value — on foundry business so far, and suddenly market checked and said 'Okay! they still can do',' said Young Jae Lee, senior investment manager at Pictet Asset Management Ltd., who has Samsung as the biggest position in his $831 million fund.
Once considered a serious challenger to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Samsung has steadily ceded ground in the global chip race. The company, which supplies its own memory chips and produces semiconductors for clients, has struggled to fill its foundry capacity as major customers such as Apple Inc. exited and its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) business has gone woefully off track.
The order announcement comes more than a year after Samsung replaced the head of its semiconductor business with seasoned memory expert Jun Young-hyun in a bid to restore the company's technological edge. Under Jun's leadership, Samsung replaced the head of the foundry business with Han Jin-man, a highly regarded executive at its chip division in the US and recruited Margaret Han, a former Intel Corp. and TSMC executive, to lead Samsung's US foundry business.
The deal also secures long-term utilization of its facility in Taylor, Texas, which has suffered from construction delays. Samsung is expanding production there with support from the 2022 Chips and Science Act, Washington's effort to rebuild the American semiconductor industry with billions in subsidies and tax incentives for the likes of Intel. Morgan Stanley analysts Shawn Kim and Michelle Kim estimate the partnership with Tesla could add more than $50 billion to Samsung's market value.
'Tesla's AI6 chip announcement validates Samsung's advanced nodes at its US fab, an endorsement that stands out amid Intel's well publicized struggles with domestic manufacturing,' said Gary Tan, portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments in Singapore.
There's still caution about calling the Tesla tie-up the start of a meaningful turnaround, but it gives ground for greater optimism around South Korea's largest company.
'Samsung now has the narrative tailwinds and the cash flow support to justify more constructive positioning, but it still needs to prove execution in AI chips beyond just this Tesla headline,' said Haris Khurshid, chief investment officer at Karobaar Capital, a Chicago-based firm. 'I'd expect some consolidation until earnings prove that this is more than just a headline trade.'
Some analysts say the company's other problems are likely to remain. For the first time in April, homegrown rival SK Hynix Inc. overtook Samsung as the world's biggest producer of DRAM chips. Samsung has also struggled to secure approval from Nvidia Corp. for its latest HBM offerings.
But Tan said Nvidia's latest line of AI chips 'presents Samsung with an opportunity to regain momentum in advanced memory.'
Despite the slow pace of development, JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a July 8 note said it has noticed growing interest from investors on 'Samsung's comeback in the high-bandwidth memory market.'
The company is expected to give more details on the Tesla deal and the outlook for the second half of the year on Thursday when it reports its full second-quarter earnings. It said earlier this month its preliminary operating profit fell by a sharper-than-expected 56% on inventory writedowns that followed the US curbs on Chinese-bound AI chips.
Investors will also be keen to get details on whether Samsung would be able to benefit from Nvidia's resumption of sales of its H20 AI chips to China. The Korean memory maker has provided HBM3 to pair with H20 chips in the past.
The stock is in a better position than last year, when company management issued a rare public apology for disappointing results. But despite the fanfare, analysts warn the rally may be overextended in the short term. Technical indicators show Samsung shares are trading at overheated levels, and consensus targets imply the smallest 12-month upside in more than four years.
—With assistance from Yoolim Lee and Vlad Savov.
Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash
It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan
Everyone Loves to Hate Wind Power. Scotland Found a Way to Make It Pay Off
Cage-Free Eggs Are Booming in the US, Despite Cost and Trump's Efforts
Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Global Ship Lease (GSL): One of the Most Underrated Shipping Stocks With High Yield
Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) is included among the 10 Best Shipping Stocks with Dividends. A large cargo ship in a harbor port, teeming with Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs). Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) is an American company that owns a fleet of 69 container vessels, which it leases out to shipping operators through long-term, fixed-rate contracts. Its business model is designed to support major shipping firms by offering additional capacity during periods of strong demand. In recent years, amid increased uncertainty and market challenges, Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) took advantage of favorable conditions to expand its fleet by around 50%, acquiring 23 vessels during a buyer's market. These additions brought in over $1 billion in EBITDA within their first year, largely through lease agreements with major operators like Maersk. Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) has experienced some ups and downs in its dividend history, yet it continues to follow a consistent dividend policy. The company resumed dividend payments in 2021, following a suspension that began in 2016. Currently, it offers a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.79%, as of July 30. While we acknowledge the potential of GSL as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and Disclosure: None. Sign in to access your portfolio
Digital Trends
4 hours ago
- Digital Trends
A brief history of folding phones and why the best is yet to come
If you're a fan of the best folding phones like me, you'll know it's been a breakout year for the category. The new Galaxy Z Fold 7 caps a year of multiple releases that have all vied to solve the common complaints with previous folding phones and prove that they can be just as comfortable as a regular phone. Several folding phone makers have released phones to compete in a key metric: thickness, or, namely, the lack of it. The ultra-thin folding phones sub-category has had three competitors this year that aimed to be the world's thinnest folding phone, but only one of them also delivers the smartphone-like experience we've been waiting for. Recommended Videos This is just the seventh year of folding phones, but we've already reached the point where they feel just like a regular smartphone in the pocket. Yet, Apple is still to release the rumored iPhone Fold, and every Android phone maker will also be looking to release its best foldable phone as well. Here's a look at the brief history of folding phones, and why the best is yet to come. 2018 — 2020: The Initial Foldable Era This may be surprising, but the world's first folding phone was by a company most won't have heard of. We need to rewind almost seven years to 2018 for the first commercial folding phone in the form of the Royole Flexpai, which launched in China in October that year. It started at ￥8,999 ($1,250), but as we learnt, it didn't deliver on the true promise of the folding phone. The following year, Samsung launched — and relaunched — the Galaxy Fold, and just four days after its announcement, Huawei took to the stage to unveil the Mate X. One key difference? Rather than two displays, the main display folds around the phone, forming part of its back. The smaller bezels of the Huawei Mate X also hinted at an inevitable trend. The folding phone market features more than just book-style folding phones, and that year also saw the revival of the Motorola Razr on November 13, 2019. Six years later, the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 is the latest in a long line of Razr flip phones to dominate the flip phone market. A couple of months later, in February 2020, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Flip, and the true flip phone competition began in the US. While book-style folding phones have had considerable competition, the flip phone market has featured several attempts by Android phone makers to launch a flip phone, but with limited success. Despite more than ten brands attempting different flip phones, the market remains an oligopoly dominated by Motorola and Samsung. The book-style market, however, is very different, and the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 2 in September 2020 saw Samsung adopt a full-screen on the front, a design language that has continued through to the latest iteration. It also featured improved durability with new Ultra-Thin Glass, a larger battery, and triple cameras. Most importantly, it was also the launch vehicle for Samsung DeX, which remains a key part of Samsung's folding phone experience. 2021 — 2023: A Defining Era 2021 and 2022 saw the foldable market explode, as Samsung released the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 4, the latter the best Samsung fold until the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Meanwhile, Huawei released the Mate X2 in February 2022 with an inward folding design, similar to other folding phones. Xiaomi launched its first and second-generation Mix Fold folding phones, and Oppo and Vivo launched their first folding phones. 2023 ushered in several changes in the folding phone market that are still prevalent today. Samsung continued its annual release with the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 in August, Google launched the first-generation Google Pixel Fold, and Honor began its current focus on thin and light design with the Honor Magic V2. However, all were dwarfed by the OnePlus Open — also known as the Oppo Find N3 — which launched in December to wide acclaim. It was a breakthrough folding phone for that era, bringing a thinner, lighter design and a focus on a great camera and excellent battery life. The OnePlus Open remains a strong folding phone in the US, despite being two years old. It wasn't just the book folding phone market that saw a major change, as the Flip phone market underwent a large shift to the current big-screen era that we're now accustomed to. Ushered in by the Razr 2023 series — which features large front screens and the innovative Razr approach to the front display — even Samsung has had to adopt this trend with the new Galaxy Z Flip 7. 2024 — 2025: The ultra-thin era Last year saw the start of the current ultra-thin era, in which Honor, Oppo, and now Samsung are all competing. A year ago, the Honor Magic V3 became the world's thinnest folding phone at 4.4mm thick when unfolded. It retained that title until the Oppo Find N5 surpassed it in February 2025, measuring 4.2mm thick when unfolded. However, this didn't last, as Honor then launched the Honor Magic V5 a few weeks ago on July 2, 2025, and it measures 4.1mm thick when unfolded. A week later, Samsung cemented its place atop many global smartphone wishlists with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which doesn't set a record for thickness, but does so for weight at 215 grams, three grams lighter than the Magic V5. Despite not setting a record, a thickness of 4.2mm when unfolded and 8.9mm when folded means it's the first folding phone to be indistinguishable from a regular smartphone. As I covered in our Galaxy Z Fold 7 review, the design has set a new benchmark for how folding phones should feel. The Magic V5 boasts the largest battery in this category and one of the best camera systems. Meanwhile, Google is set to announce its new Pixel 10 Pro Fold later this month. 2026 onwards: the iPhone Fold era? Of course, there's one major smartphone player still to make its foldable phone entrance: Apple. The iPhone Fold is rumored to launch in September next year, potentially enabling folding phones to reach escape velocity. The iPhone, the iPad, and several products since have proved that Apple's participation in a category is necessary for that category to reach its total addressable market (TAM). Samsung has been key to the success of folding phones so far, and devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 show that the company is still able to innovate. With Apple set to launch, Samsung likely to respond, and most other phone makers are likely to launch new folding phones in the wake of Apple's entrance, it's safe to say that the best is yet to come. In case it wasn't obvious, I can't wait!
Business Insider
6 hours ago
- Business Insider
Intel Stock (NASDAQ:INTC) Slides as Unanticipated Job Losses Hit
We know that chip stock Intel (INTC) has been hemorrhaging employees for the last several months now, on its way to cutting loose somewhere around 20% of its overall staff. But along the way, Intel is also losing some folks it may not have originally planned to lose. These unexpected departures are hitting Intel particularly hard, and investors do not like what they see. Intel shares were down nearly 2.5% in Friday afternoon's trading. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. With new CEO Lip-Bu Tan making a wide range of changes, some of Intel's biggest names have decided to simply retire and get out of the way altogether. Ryan Russell and Kaizad Mistry, both vice presidents in the technology development group, have decided to retire. Corporate vice president of the Design Technology Platform organization Gary Patton also decided the time was ripe to seek greener pastures in retirement, noted a Reuters report. Intel, interestingly, would not comment about the retirements when asked in that same report. But with processes emerging and being broken apart in a matter of weeks, it is clear there is a lot of change going on at Intel right now. That may be the kind of change that prompts some to believe it is better to abandon ship than go down with it. It Got Worse As if those retirements were not enough, there was one more unexpected departure to follow. This one did not happen as a result of a retirement, though. Rather, this one came about because someone was offered a better job elsewhere. Gang Duan, Inventor of the Year for 2024 at Intel, and a specialist in chip packaging, is now executive vice president at Samsung. (SSNLF) Interestingly, one of the things Duan was known for was using glass as a means to package semiconductors, which provides several key advantages including greater durability and thermal stability. But given that Intel recently decided to get out of glass substrates altogether, Duan may have decided that it was a good time to depart. Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell? Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on one Buy, 25 Holds and three Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 7.82% loss in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $22.25 per share implies 15.4% upside potential.
