$SKHY $SSNLF 005930 KS Korea exported $56.4B of semiconductors in October, up 259.4% YoY. Second-biggest month on record, behind only September. Total exports: $115.3B, +93.7% YoY Per working day: $5.24B, +76% Chips: 49% of all exports Imports: $72.8B, +36.0% Trade surplus: $42.5B, a second straight month above $40B Jan–Oct exports came to about $930B, the first time the ten-month total has topped $900B. The gap between +93.7% and +76% is the calendar. Last October had fewer working days, so the per-day number is the cleaner read.

Hanmi Semiconductor (042700 KS), which makes bonding equipment for HBM production, reported preliminary Q3 revenue of 181.0 billion won, down 27.9% from Q2. Operating profit fell 30.3% to 90.8 billion won. Revenue was up 8.9% from a year earlier, while operating profit rose 33.9%. Operating margin widened to 50.2% from 40.8%. Hanmi said some equipment revenue had been deferred to Q4 and expects a stronger fourth quarter. The company also expects 2026 to deliver a third straight year of record revenue and a new annual high in operating profit.

$SSNLF 005930 KS Samsung's chip division made ₩106.5T of operating profit in 3Q26. That's more than all of $SKHY earned in the same quarter (₩83.3T), and it's 99% of Samsung's group profit. 3Q26 final (K-IFRS): Revenue ₩195.3T, +14% QoQ, +127% YoY (prelim ₩195.0T) Operating profit ₩107.4T, +20% QoQ, margin 55.0% (2Q 52.2%) DS (chips) ₩106.5T on ₩147.1T of sales, a 72% margin (2Q 70%) Memory sales ₩140.7T, +16% QoQ Phones, TVs and appliances -₩0.8T, same as 2Q Net profit ₩75.1T, EPS ₩11,462 Net cash ₩197.6T The number that moved most is capex. Samsung spent ₩26.9T on property and equipment in the quarter, almost double 2Q's ₩14.1T and 2.5 times a year ago. Revenue growth slowed from 28% to 14% QoQ while spending stepped up. On 2027, the company expects AI demand to tighten memory supply further than this year, and says it'll build its sales base on long-term contracts. HBM4 sales "significantly scaled up" in 3Q, with prices up across all applications. Foundry's first Taylor fab starts operations, and Samsung says its 2nm HPC wins now include major hyperscalers. Shareholders get ₩30T in 3Q dividends, ₩4,601 a share. Of the ₩90–110T planned for 2026, ₩35T is done or committed. The other ₩55–75T will include a large buyback and cancellation, with the plan set at the board meeting in late January. Below operating profit, the finance line swung to a ₩9.5T loss from a ₩4.7T gain in 2Q. The materials don't say why. For the call (10am Seoul): C1 What drove the ₩9.5T finance loss C2 How much of 2027 HBM4 is under long-term contract, and on what pricing terms C3 Where the ₩26.9T of capex went, and what 2027 capex looks like C4 Whether memory costs keep phones and TVs in the red into 4Q

Samsung (005930.KS) challenges $TSM production with Panel-Level-Packaging Samsung plans to bring its 415×510mm FOPLP platform into mass production around 2028, sticking with a significantly larger panel format than TSMC’s 310×310mm standard The larger Samsung panel offers 2.2× the usable area of a 310×310mm panel, potentially providing meaningful unit-cost advantages. Samsung also already has high-volume PLP manufacturing experience from mobile and wearable chips, giving it existing infrastructure and expertise in warpage control The challenge is moving the technology into AI server packaging, where integrating logic dies and HBM is considerably more difficult. TSMC also has an established advantage because its 310×310mm format has already attracted a large equipment, materials and OSAT ecosystem Samsung is also targeting glass-substrate mass production in 2029–2030 as package sizes increase and conventional ABF substrates face growing technical and supply constraints Perhaps most interestingly, Samsung is aggressively using AI in packaging R&D. Physics-Informed Neural Networks are being applied to signal integrity, power integrity and thermal simulations, reportedly reducing some engineering workflows from one year to a single day

Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) went from third place to No. 1 in global Mini LED TV shipments in Q2, taking 28.2% share, according to Omdia. Mini LED TVs made up 13% of global TV shipments during the quarter as Samsung and LG expanded their lineups and lowered entry prices.

Leeno Industrial 058470 KS can no longer take new test socket orders after a month-long strike. Its customers include $NVDA, $QCOM and $AVGO. The Elec reports orders are shifting to Yamaichi 6941 JP, Yokowo 6800 JP and Winway 6716 TT.