South Korea’s tech giant moves to reward investors with one of the country’s biggest-ever shareholder return programmes as AI demand continues to reshape the global chip industry…..
Samsung Electronics is preparing to return as much as $80 billion to shareholders in 2026, unveiling an unprecedented plan that comes as investors demand greater rewards from the South Korean technology giant amid its booming semiconductor business.
The company announced the plan after a board meeting on Friday, saying its total shareholder returns for the year are expected to fall between 90 trillion won and 110 trillion won.
Samsung said the programme is intended to ensure that the company’s growth translates into meaningful value for its shareholders.
The announcement comes just days after rival chipmaker SK hynix unveiled a $28.9 billion share buyback programme. That move sparked a sharp rally in SK hynix shares, which climbed 12 percent the following day.
Samsung shares rebound after announcement
Investors had already been watching Samsung closely after its shares reached a record 370,000 won in June, fuelled by optimism surrounding the explosive growth of artificial intelligence and demand for advanced memory chips.
But the rally subsequently lost momentum as technology stocks came under pressure globally. Samsung shares were trading at roughly 279,000 won on Friday, well below their June peak.
The prospect of a huge shareholder payout helped reverse some of that pressure.
Samsung shares closed 3.9 percent higher on Friday, with investors anticipating details of the company’s new return programme.
The company said its first major distribution under the plan will be a cash dividend of approximately 30 trillion won in the third quarter. Further details are expected to be approved by the board at a meeting scheduled for late October.
Millions of shareholders stand to benefit
The scale of Samsung’s announcement is particularly significant because of the company’s enormous retail investor base.
According to Samsung’s latest semi-annual report, the number of minority shareholders stood at approximately 8 million. That figure represents almost one in every five adults in South Korea, highlighting just how closely ordinary Korean investors are tied to the performance of the technology giant.
For those shareholders, the new programme could provide a significant boost through dividends and potential reductions in the number of shares in circulation.
A large-scale buyback can also support a company’s earnings per share by reducing the number of outstanding shares, potentially making each remaining share more valuable if profits continue to grow.
AI remains at the heart of Samsung’s growth
The shareholder-return announcement comes as Samsung enjoys a dramatic improvement in its semiconductor business, largely driven by the global race to build artificial intelligence systems.
Samsung reported last month that its second-quarter operating profit surged by more than 1,800 percent, reflecting the extraordinary increase in demand for advanced chips.
The company, one of the world’s largest memory-chip manufacturers, has been seeking to strengthen its position in the rapidly expanding AI semiconductor market as technology companies pour billions of dollars into data centres and AI infrastructure.
SK hynix has also benefited heavily from the trend, particularly through its position in high-bandwidth memory chips used in advanced AI systems.
A bigger test for South Korea’s stock market
The fortunes of Samsung and SK hynix have become closely linked to the wider performance of South Korea’s stock market.
The two semiconductor giants helped drive the country’s benchmark Kospi index above 9,000 points in June, as investors piled into companies expected to benefit from the AI boom.
That optimism has since been tested by a broader technology selloff, forcing investors to reassess valuations across the sector.
Samsung’s enormous shareholder-return commitment could therefore serve two purposes: rewarding investors directly while also restoring confidence in a stock that has retreated sharply from its record high.
With AI demand continuing to fuel the semiconductor industry, investors will now be watching closely to see whether Samsung’s aggressive capital-return strategy can help turn renewed optimism into a sustained recovery in its share price.
