I am proud to be a Samsung Electronics shareholder. I support Korea's No. 1 corporations.
On the 18th at the Suwon Convention Center in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, at Samsung Electronics' 2026 annual general meeting of shareholders, a person surnamed Lee, 37, said this. Despite the rainy, inclement weather, about 1,200 shareholders visited the venue, and most wore bright expressions. The shareholder base was diverse, from college students to people in their 70s. As of the end of last year, the number of Samsung Electronics shareholders was 4,196,025.
Last year's shareholders meeting, held when the share price was stuck in the 50,000-won range, was a "venue for grievances," but this year's meeting flipped 180 degrees into a "festival." Shareholders gathered in small groups and, saying "We've had a hard time" and "If you trust the company and wait, days like this come," encouraged each other with smiles. Samsung Electronics shares are currently trading around 205,000 won, up about 6% from the previous day. Compared with a year ago, they are up more than 3.5 times.
Jun Young-hyun, Samsung Electronics CEO (vice chairman), who chaired the meeting, also presented the recent standout share-price gains as an achievement. He said, "Despite last year's difficult internal and external environment, the company achieved a record-high revenue of 333.6059 trillion won," adding, "The share price also surged, and we became the first Korean corporations to surpass 1,000 trillion won in market capitalization." He continued, "We are not resting on our laurels and are continuing to invest in facilities to meet artificial intelligence (AI) demand and in research and development to secure future technologies." On plans to enhance shareholder value, he said, "Along with regular dividends of 9.8 trillion won for the year, we plan to pay an additional 1.3 trillion won in dividends."
◇ "Wage competitiveness lags competitors… it will improve"
The meeting proceeded with deliberations and votes on agenda items. All items on the agenda, including ▲ appointment of Seoul National University professor Heo Eun-nyoung to the audit committee ▲ approval of plans to hold and dispose of treasury shares ▲ approval of financial statements ▲ approval of the limit on directors' compensation, were approved as originally proposed.
On this day, Yoo Myung-hee, former head of the Office of the Minister for Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, stepped down as an outside director, and Song Jai-hyuk, chief technology officer (CTO) of the Samsung Electronics DS (semiconductors) institutional sector, left the board as an inside director. With the approval of the agenda item to appoint Kim Yong-gwan, head of management strategy at the DS institutional sector, as an inside director, the Samsung Electronics board was reorganized into three inside directors and five outside directors. Accordingly, the board will be reduced from nine to eight members. The limit on directors' compensation increased from 36 billion won last year to 45 billion won.
The vice chairman said, "Even if the size of the board is reduced, with five outside directors, we fully meet the requirement under the Commercial Act that outside directors make up a majority," adding, "We reviewed new candidates, but due to time constraints and personal circumstances of strong candidates, we could not newly nominate anyone."
The vice chairman answered shareholders' questions during votes on each proposal. Shareholders who had a chance to speak said, "It seems management responded 'boldly' to shareholders who trusted and waited," "Unlike last year's meeting, the share price has risen a lot, thank you," "I invested all the money from selling my car into Samsung Electronics, and after hearing the explanation of new products, my expectations grew," and "All of management worked hard to lift the share price three to four times in a year," offering praise and encouragement.
Pointed questions followed. One shareholder asked whether, amid fierce competition to recruit talent at home and abroad, Samsung Electronics has issues with wage competitiveness or talent outflows compared with competitors. The vice chairman said, "As we went through a period of weak business performance in the semiconductors institutional sector, the payout ratio of performance bonuses tied to results fell, and it is true that wage competitiveness lagged competitors," but added, "Since last year, as we have restored the competitiveness of semiconductor products, performance bonus payouts have been increasing, and we expect the wage competitiveness gap to narrow." In response to a question on whether there are plans to expand dividends and investment given that net cash exceeds 100 trillion won, he said, "We will manage our cash holdings stably in consideration of large-scale investments and mergers and acquisitions (M&A)."
◇ Next-generation technologies such as HBM4E on display… "We kept last year's promise of 'restoring competitiveness'"
After the meeting, as in previous years, time was set aside to announce this year's business strategy and talk with shareholders. Joining the vice chairman were Roh Tae-Moon, head of the DX (finished goods) institutional sector and president and CEO; Park Sun-chul, chief financial officer (CFO); Song Jai-hyuk, chief technology officer (CTO); Yong Seok-woo, head of the VD Division (president); and Kim Cheol-gi, head of the DA Division (executive vice president), among other key Samsung Electronics executives.
The vice chairman said, "We reflected on last year's lack of competitiveness and promised to recover," adding, "I want to say we kept that promise, and next year we will further develop differentiated technologies to maintain a sustainable competitive edge." He continued, "We will do our best so there is no repetition of last year's reflection and concerns about memory competitiveness, and all of management will unite and work together to reward shareholders with good results."
Roh said, "We will innovate all products and services based on AI and expand AX (AI transformation) companywide," adding, "Even in an uncertain global environment, we will build a rapid market-sensing and scenario-based response system and focus on making AI a momentum for innovation and growth."
Samsung Electronics also prepared an exhibition space where shareholders visiting the venue could see future technologies at a glance, including seventh-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4E). HBM4E, a follow-up model to the sixth-generation HBM (HBM4) that Samsung Electronics was the first in the world to mass-produce and ship, applies a 1c DRAM process and a base die built on a 4-nanometer (nm; one-billionth of a meter) node to raise pin (data pathway) speed to up to 16 gigabits per second (Gbps). Following Nvidia's annual developer conference (GTC 2026) held on the 16th (local time), the physical product was also displayed at the shareholders meeting, underscoring its technological competitiveness. In addition, AI features applied to smartphones, TVs and home appliances, and next-generation display products also drew shareholders' attention.