Samsung, SK hynix tax payments surge 167% on chip boom

South Korea's two largest semiconductor manufacturers, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, have significantly increased their corporate tax payments in the first half of this year, driven by surging profits from the global demand for advanced chips used in artificial intelligence applications. The pair paid a combined 11.21 trillion won ($7.99 billion) in corporate taxes during the period, marking a 167 percent increase compared to the same time last year. This sharp rise reflects the booming semiconductor industry, which has been fueled by heightened demand for memory and logic chips essential to AI technologies. Samsung Electronics contributed 3.99 trillion won to the total, a dramatic jump from 1.12 trillion won in the first half of 2023. Meanwhile, SK hynix accounted for 7.22 trillion won, setting a new record and nearly doubling its previous year's contribution of 3.07 trillion won. The combined figure ranks as the second-highest for any first-half period since records began, behind only the 12.66 trillion won collected in 2019. That year saw another major semiconductor boom, with Samsung reporting an operating profit of 58.9 trillion won and SK hynix logging 20.8 trillion won. Corporate tax payments typically follow company earnings, with firms settling taxes on the prior year’s income in March and making interim payments in August. For approximately 2,600 large-group companies, excluding small and medium-sized enterprises, these August payments are calculated based on preliminary first-half financial results. In the current period, Samsung’s operating profit soared to 146.7 trillion won, compared to 11.4 trillion won in the same period last year. SK hynix’s operating profit also rose sharply, reaching 98.2 trillion won from 16.7 trillion won. Analysts expect the companies' full-year operating profits to reach 385 trillion won for Samsung and 266 trillion won for SK hynix, far exceeding the respective figures of 43.5 trillion won and 47.2 trillion won recorded in 2025. These projections suggest that both companies will face even larger tax obligations later in the year. Combined annual corporate tax payments previously reached a peak of 15.64 trillion won in 2019, and with over 11.2 trillion won already paid in the first half, it appears highly probable that this record will be broken again. Estimates based on the combined operating profits of 500 trillion won to 600 trillion won and applying a 20 percent effective tax rate indicate that the companies' total tax liability could surpass 100 trillion won. However, actual payments might be less due to factors such as taxable income and available tax credits for research and development activities and domestic investments. The surge in corporate tax payments highlights the rapid growth of South Korea's semiconductor sector, which has benefited from global trends toward AI and data center expansion. As demand continues to grow, both Samsung and SK hynix are expected to maintain high levels of profitability, leading to further increases in their tax contributions. The government is likely to monitor these developments closely, given the significant impact on national revenue and economic policy.