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Samsung SDS stated in its earnings call that its strategic investment in the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Dunamu is a "strategic layout for entering the digital asset infrastructure business." Both parties are discussing cooperation on stablecoin infrastructure, next-generation AI payments, and virtual asset financial system integration (SI). Samsung SDS President Lee Joon-hee mentioned that they will combine Dunamu's blockchain operation experience with Samsung SDS's capabilities in IT services, AI, cloud computing, and security to strengthen the digital financial infrastructure business.The earnings report disclosed on the same day showed that Samsung SDS's revenue for the second quarter was 3.7178 trillion won (approximately 2.6 billion USD), a year-on-year increase of 5.9%; operating profit was 231.8 billion won (approximately 160 million USD), a year-on-year increase of 0.7%. Among them, the cloud computing business revenue was 779.4 billion won, a year-on-year increase of 17%, with external cloud computing business revenue surging 75% year-on-year. The company plans to expand its AI infrastructure from the current 110MW to 230MW by 2029, and further expand to over 800MW by 2031. Samsung SDS previously announced an investment of approximately 20 billion won in Dunamu in May 2024.

According to Jinshi News, Samsung Electronics expects that the chip shortage situation will further worsen next year and continue until 2028. The company stated that it is difficult to significantly increase supply in the short term, as it takes more than 3 years and 6 months from the construction of new production facilities to actual wafer production.Samsung Electronics pointed out that the popularity of AI is driving a surge in memory demand, especially as the memory demand for AI servers and general computing servers reaches unprecedented levels.

Samsung Electronics released its Q2 2026 financial report, with revenue of 171.5 trillion Korean won (approximately $118.8 billion), a year-on-year increase of 130%, and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 28%, setting a new record for a single quarter; operating profit was 89.5 trillion Korean won (approximately $62 billion), a year-on-year increase of 1813.8%, and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 56.4%, exceeding market expectations by about 5%; net profit was 71.62 trillion Korean won (approximately $49.6 billion), a staggering year-on-year increase of 1299.9%. Earnings per share were 10,849 won, a year-on-year increase of 52%.The Device Solutions (DS) division reported revenue of 127.5 trillion Korean won, with operating profit of 89.2 trillion Korean won, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 56%, driven by demand for AI server memory, with both revenue and profit reaching historical highs. HBM4 has been mass-produced and shipped, and HBM4E samples have been delivered to major customers. The Device Experience (DX) division saw a quarter-on-quarter revenue decline of 9%, with the MX business affected by component cost pressures, reporting revenue of 33.2 trillion Korean won and an operating loss of 0.7 trillion Korean won.Samsung expects strong demand for server DRAM, eSSD, and HBM to continue in the second half of the year, with a tight market supply situation persisting, although demand in the mobile and PC sectors may see some slowdown. The company plans to expand sales of high-value-added products such as HBM4, DDR5, and SOCAMM2, and to mass-produce new mobile products using the second-generation 2nm process, aiming for double-digit revenue growth in its foundry business.

According to Jinshi reports, Samsung Electronics' semiconductor division reported that its profits have increased by more than 250 times due to the reliance of artificial intelligence on memory. The division's operating profit for the second quarter was 89.2 trillion won (approximately 62 billion USD), exceeding analysts' average expectation of 79.3 trillion won.The group's overall net profit was 71.3 trillion won, also surpassing market expectations.

According to Jinshi reports, Samsung Electronics stated that the depreciation of the Korean won had a positive impact of 3.1 trillion won in the second quarter.

According to Gate market data, the South Korean KOSPI index opened up 1.2%, with SK Hynix rising 2%, following the announcement of a surge in second-quarter operating profit, although it was below expectations; Samsung Electronics rose 3%. The Nikkei 225 index opened up 0.18%.

According to the latest ranking of stock derivatives exchanges released by RootData, Binance, Hyperliquid, and OKX are in the top three. The list is based on comprehensive scoring of exchanges supporting stock derivatives trading, considering dimensions such as trading volume, open interest, spreads, depth, trading costs, and data collectability. Among them:Binance scored 95.7, with a position size of approximately $2.844 billion, a 24h trading volume of approximately $19.879 billion, and a market share of 48.46%.Hyperliquid scored 94.9, with a position size of approximately $1.708 billion, a 24h trading volume of approximately $5.668 billion, and a market share of 13.82%.OKX scored 92.6, with a position size of approximately $528 million, a 24h trading volume of approximately $4.752 billion, and a market share of 11.58%.Compared to the same period last week, Hyperliquid rose from seventh to second place; OKX rose from sixth to third place; Gate rose from eighth to sixth place. MEXC fell from second to fifth place, and Bybit fell from third to seventh place.

According to research data released by Grayscale, based on the proportion of market capitalization, the inflow of funds into the HYPE ETF is accelerating, with relative performance surpassing BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP.Grayscale pointed out that the inflow of Bitcoin is the most consistent and stable, Ethereum has experienced sharp peaks, Solana and XRP showed healthy inflows in the early stages, while HYPE's performance at the same lifecycle stage outperformed Bitcoin, Solana, and XRP.

According to Jinshi reports, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei announced that they have signed a supply agreement with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.Bloomberg recently reported that senior officials from the South Korean presidential office revealed that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will sign agreements involving substantial funds with top American technology companies during Lee Jae-myung's visit. The related cooperation is expected to include long-term storage chip supply contracts, strategic investment partnerships, and memorandums of understanding, with specific scales to be disclosed after the companies officially announce them.Lee Jae-myung will arrive in San Francisco on Friday local time and attend the artificial intelligence summit, where he will hold talks with leaders of American technology companies, including NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan.

According to Business Insider, Alphabet's total number of employees increased from 187,103 to 198,933 in the year ending June 30, 2026, with a net increase of 11,830 people. Among them, the increase in Q2 2026 alone exceeded 4,000 people, accounting for more than one-third of the total net increase over the past year, marking the largest quarterly increase in recent years. The company's revenue during the same period was $119.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 24%.Previously, Google laid off 12,000 employees in a one-time action in 2023, followed by several rounds of small-scale adjustments. Last week, about 4,500 employees jointly submitted a petition to CEO Sundar Pichai, requesting stronger layoff protections. Alphabet stated that it will prioritize the long-term development of AI and has raised its capital expenditure expectations for 2026 to $195 billion to $205 billion, citing that the demand for AI infrastructure continues to exceed available capacity.

According to South Korean media Daum, data from the Korea Exchange shows that from July 20 to 23, foreign investors net purchased the South Korean stock market for four consecutive trading days, with a total net purchase of 55.74 trillion won, marking the first consecutive four-day net inflow since April. Among them, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix became the main recipients of funds, with net purchases of 17.3 trillion won and 27.6 trillion won, respectively, totaling 44.8 trillion won, accounting for over 80% of the total net purchases by foreign investors during the same period. The market believes that tech giants like Google continue to raise their AI capital expenditure expectations, improving the demand outlook for HBM and server DRAM, coupled with the increased attractiveness of the two companies after prior valuation adjustments, driving foreign investment to focus on leading South Korean memory chip manufacturers.

According to Token Terminal data, the market value of tokenized stocks reached a record $2.3 billion in mid-July, nearly doubling since it first surpassed $1 billion in March. On July 21, the circulating volume of Ondo Finance's tokenized stocks (514.5 million shares) and the number of holders (93,880), the tokenized market value of Backed Finance ($579.4 million), and the number of tokenized stocks on Robinhood Chain (126,720 shares) and the number of holders (36,170) all hit historical highs.The tokenized stock exchange Arcus launched by the dYdX team recorded a daily perpetual contract trading volume of $11.9 million and a new high of $6.8 million in open contracts on the same day. By chain distribution, Ethereum accounts for 34% of the tokenized stock market share, BNB Chain accounts for 30%, and Solana accounts for 23%. Ondo Finance leads with an on-chain stock scale of $955 million and recently collaborated with Japan's SBI Group to tokenize Japanese stocks, enabling 24/7 minting, redemption, and voting rights features. xStocks surpassed a cumulative trading volume of $25 billion within eight months of its launch. Ondo executives previously estimated that the market value of tokenized stocks would reach $2.5 to $3 billion by the end of the year.

According to Digital Today, Samsung Electronics announced at the Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event that Samsung Wallet plans to introduce support for stablecoins, integrating payments, rewards, and digital assets into a unified service. Samsung stated that this will be one of the first models among major smartphone brands to support stablecoins as a native feature.Samsung Wallet has expanded from a payment tool to a digital hub that can store keys, identification, and boarding passes. The event also launched the first financial service based on Samsung Wallet—the Samsung Galaxy Card, which will be launched in the United States in collaboration with Barclays and Visa. Samsung claims that its Knox security platform protects sensitive information through end-to-end encryption.

Insiders reveal that Samsung is in talks to participate in a new round of financing for the artificial intelligence startup Mistral, which could value Mistral at around 20 billion euros. This move will help the French company become a major alternative to American tech giants.One insider stated that Samsung had previously supported the company through its venture capital division and may invest about 1 billion euros in this new round of financing. This discussion reflects that AI developers are widely seeking to establish partnerships with semiconductor suppliers to address the situation where the demand for computing power in the industry far exceeds supply. Following the Trump administration's ban last month on foreign users accessing Anthropic's latest Mythos and Fable models, interest from European and Asian companies and governments in alternatives to leading American AI models has been steadily increasing. Since its establishment, Mistral has focused on developing open-source AI models that allow customers customization and control, meaning that no company or government can shut down these models.

The Korean stock market's semiconductor concept stocks are actively traded, and the market's attention to related assets continues to rise. According to data from the Gate platform, Samsung Electronics (005930) is currently priced at $175.14, with a 24-hour increase of 6.14%; SK Hynix (000660) is currently priced at $1241.59, with a 24-hour increase of 4.08%.CoinGlass data shows that trading in Gate-related stock derivatives is active, with the Gate SKHX contract's open interest reaching $37.73 million and a 24-hour trading volume of $88.09 million; the Gate SAMSUNG contract's open interest is $2.63 million, with a 24-hour trading volume of $7.75 million, both ranking among the industry's top.Gate stocks have established a 7×24 hour trading service system covering the three core markets of US stocks, Hong Kong stocks, and Korean stocks, supporting over 10,000 US stocks and ETFs, more than 1,500 Hong Kong stocks, and over 1,000 Korean stocks, totaling coverage of more than 12,500 stocks and ETF assets globally.Users can participate in global stock investments through Gate's unified account using USDT, supporting fractional share trading starting from a minimum of 0.01 shares, and enjoying stock dividend rights. The platform also supports cross-brokerage transfer of US and Hong Kong stocks and company actions such as stock splits and consolidations, further optimizing the stock investment service experience.

According to Jinshi reports, Samuel Tombs of Pantheon pointed out that the University of Michigan Consumer Confidence Index rose from 49.5 in June to 54.4, exceeding economists' expectations of 50.5, but still below last year's average level. He stated that the decline in inflation expectations provides some comfort to the Federal Reserve, although Chairman Waller's tough rhetoric failed to further lower expectations.At the same time, the "lack of leverage" for workers means that the likelihood of wage growth rising due to the recent overall inflation rebound is very low.

According to Onchain Lens, an address deposited $17 million into Hyperliquid to open long positions on Bitcoin and Samsung-related contracts. Currently, the address holds about 20 BTC long positions with a notional value of approximately $1.26 million, as well as about 7,600 SMSN long positions with a notional value of approximately $1.2 million.

According to Gate market data, South Korea's semiconductor leader SK Hynix (000660) is currently priced at $1245.42, down 11.52%; Samsung Electronics (005930) is currently priced at $172.47, down 8.76%, with the semiconductor sector overall weakening. According to CoinGlass data, the SKHYNIX contract open interest on the Gate platform reached $26.36 million, with a 24-hour trading volume of $56.49 million; the SAMSUNG contract open interest reached $2.67 million, with a 24-hour trading volume of $5.40 million, with related indicators ranking among the industry's top.