In a remarkable financial performance for the March 2026 quarter, South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix achieved a combined profit of $59.7 billion, surpassing the total profit of all listed Indian companies for any quarter to date. Samsung reported a net profit of $32.2 billion, while SK Hynix earned $27.5 billion, reflecting a booming capital expenditure cycle in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, where memory chips are essential. The surge in profits is largely due to increased demand from AI hyperscalers such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, which has led to a dramatic recovery for SK Hynix, which had been experiencing losses prior to this quarter. The company's profit jumped to $1.4 billion in March 2024, marking a 44.6% compounded quarterly growth rate over the past nine quarters. In contrast, Samsung's profits grew at a 26% compounded rate during the same period. Notably, despite their impressive profits, the combined revenue of Samsung and Hynix in the March quarter was $127 billion, less than one-fourth of the quarterly revenue of Indian corporates, which exceeds $500 billion. This indicates that the Korean firms operate at significantly higher profit margins, with Samsung and Hynix reporting operating margins of 42.7% and 72%, respectively, compared to Indian companies' typical margins of under 20%.