On the 11th, KB Securities raised its target price for Samsung SDS by 17% to 270,000 won from 230,000 won, saying the growth potential of the artificial intelligence (AI) data center and GPUaaS (GPU as a Service) businesses is coming to the fore.
Researcher Kim Jun-seop at KB Securities said, "The investment points for Samsung SDS are monetizing nonrevenue assets, performance improvement centered on the AI infrastructure business, and a valuation re-rating driven by a rise in return on equity (ROE)."
Kim noted the environment of rising interest in the AI factory business as agent AI spreads. In particular, on the 8th, Naver said it would promote a large-scale AI factory business in partnership with Nvidia, leading to heightened market expectations for the GPUaaS business.
Kim said, "Samsung SDS has already been operating its GPUaaS business since 2021 and recently began a service based on Nvidia's latest GPU, the B300," adding, "If the Gumi AI data center and the national AI computing center launch GPU-centric services going forward, the company could secure more than 200 MW in GPUaaS capacity over the long term."
Applying the business profitability indicators presented by Naver, Kim estimated that Samsung SDS's GPUaaS business could generate additional annual revenue of 4 trillion won and operating profit of 800 billion won. Even reflecting equity-method gains from the national AI computing center, he said it could contribute revenue of 2 trillion won and operating profit of 400 billion won based on 100 MW.
He also focused on the utilization value of the large cash-like asset. Kim said, "The key to the GPUaaS business ultimately is utilization, but the view that current nonrevenue assets will be converted into revenue assets still holds," adding, "Profit growth from the expansion of the AI infrastructure business and improvement in ROE can appear at the same time."
Samsung SDS plans to invest a total of 10 trillion won by 2031, of which 5 trillion won will be put into AI data centers. Kim said, "Assuming a 5% gap between return on invested capital (ROIC) and interest yield, a 5 trillion won investment would increase after-tax profit by about 250 billion won," adding, "That is about 28% of this year's estimated net profit."