Samsung Electronics, SK hynix's corporate tax tops $8.1 bil. in H1

In the first half of the year, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, two major South Korean tech companies, paid a combined corporate tax of 11.2 trillion won, equivalent to $8.1 billion, according to financial data released on Sunday. Samsung Electronics contributed 3.99 trillion won while SK hynix paid 7.22 trillion won in the first half, as reported by the Repository of Korea's Corporate Filings, a service managed by the Financial Supervisory Service.

The total corporate taxes paid by the two firms increased by 167% compared to the previous year, setting a new record for the second-highest first-half total on record. This figure follows their record-breaking 15.63 trillion won in corporate taxes paid during the same period in 2019, driven by their record-high profits during the memory chip boom of 2018.

Typically, companies pay corporate taxes in March for the preceding fiscal year, which concludes in December, and in August for their interim first-half profits. Industry observers anticipate that the corporate tax payments of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will continue to rise as the companies reported first-half operating profits of 146.7 trillion won and 98.2 trillion won, respectively.