Samsung prepares record shareholder payouts amid AI boom

Samsung Electronics plans to allocate between 90 and 110 trillion won to shareholders in payouts and other forms of capital return in 2026 - roughly from $65 billion to $79.5 billion. The upper limit will be the largest such figure in the company's history.

This is reported by Financial Times. The final amount will depend on Samsung's financial results, investments, and cash flow.

The company already plans to pay about 30 trillion won in dividends for the third quarter, including regular quarterly dividends. The board of directors must decide in January 2027 how to distribute the remaining amount. Possible options include additional cash dividends, share buybacks and their subsequent cancellation. 

The scale of the program is unprecedented for Samsung. According to FT, the potential amount of capital return is about five times higher than the company's previous record set in 2020.

Samsung shares revenue from the AI boom

The new program became possible amid a sharp improvement in the manufacturer's financial results due to global demand for semiconductors for artificial intelligence systems. Samsung is one of the world's largest memory chip makers, and the boom in AI infrastructure construction has sharply increased demand and prices for such products.

Payouts will be made within the framework of Samsung's current three-year policy for 2024-2026. The company has committed to returning at least 50% of its free cash flow to shareholders.

Separately, Samsung's board approved a buyback of about 15 trillion won of its own shares. These securities are intended for employee reward programs.

Samsung is not the only South Korean technology company that decided to share sharply increased revenues with investors. Its main competitor in the memory market, SK Hynix, earlier this week announced a massive capital return program, including buyback and cancellation of shares worth over $28 billion. 

Amid expectations of large payouts, Samsung shares finished main trading on August 21 with a rise of 3.87% to 281,500 won. The day before they rose another 9.49%.