It is reported that $7 billion of the $12 billion quarterly profit came from memory representing 60% of the Q2 profit.

Three years ago $7 billion represented Samsung’s profit for the entire year.

The semiconductor cycle has been on an upswing all year with the three remaining major DRAM producers and the four remsining major flash producers reporting constrained capacity and soaring demand.

If the Chinese can get their huge memory fabs running high-yielding wafers, then that all might change.