Key highlights

　　Samsung Electronics said on Friday it expects the funds available for shareholder returns in 2026 to reach 90 trillion to 110 trillion won. Samsung said the figure sets a record high for Korean companies. Just days before the release of this announcement, SK hynix disclosed a plan for a stock buyback, and the two leading South Korean chipmakers have rolled out large-scale shareholder return measures one after another, sending shockwaves through the market this week.

　　After SK hynix unveiled its stock buyback plan, Samsung Electronics also put forward a package of shareholder return measures, marking a major week for shareholder return policies among South Korea’s chip giants.

　　Samsung announced on Friday that it expects the total shareholder return for 2026 to reach 90 trillion–110 trillion won (equivalent to US$65.1 billion–US$79.52 billion). Samsung said this is “the largest-ever shareholder return program by a Korean company.”

　　Samsung has been playing catch-up to its domestic competitor, SK Hynix, in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market used for AI; so far, the stock has risen by about 135% this year.

　　The company also announced that it would distribute about 30 trillion won in cash dividends in the third quarter, including regular quarterly dividend payments. Samsung said the specific details of the dividends will be finalized at the board meeting at the end of October.

　　Just days before Samsung officially unveiled this plan, SK Hynix announced a share buyback program with a scale of 40 trillion won.

　　Samsung said that the specific amounts for the remaining shareholder returns and the implementation details will be determined at a board meeting at the end of January 2027, and that the plan will comprehensively use two forms: cash dividends and share buybacks with cancellations.

　　This Friday’s announcement was rolled out on top of Samsung’s (2024?2026 annual shareholder payout plan). Under the old plan, Samsung committed to returning 50% of free cash flow for 2024?2026 to shareholders, while maintaining regular annual dividends of 9.8 trillion won.

　　In the corporate value enhancement plan released in March this year, Samsung disclosed that it would distribute a total of 20.9 trillion won in cash dividends over 2024 and 2025, and would additionally spend 8.4 trillion won on share buybacks and cancel the shares.