SUWON, Gyeonggi Province — Samsung Electronics’ annual shareholders meeting opened to applause on Wednesday, a sharp break from last year’s tense gathering as investors returned in high spirits after the stock’s rebound, record annual revenue and a larger dividend plan.

At the company’s 57th annual general meeting at Suwon Convention Center, the contrast with 2025 was evident from the start. A year ago, the room was dominated by frustration over a share price stuck in the 50,000 won ($33.65) range and by doubts over Samsung’s semiconductor competitiveness.

This time, the tone was noticeably lighter as the stock moved into the 200,000 won range during the meeting.

“Last year I was so upset about the low share price that I could not sleep before coming,” one shareholder said at the venue. “This year I was too excited to sleep.”

Samsung Electronics is South Korea’s largest listed company and one of its most widely held retail investor stocks, so the shareholder meeting atmosphere is often treated as a broader read on market confidence.

Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun, who chaired the meeting, opened by bowing to shareholders and thanking them for their support through what he described as a difficult business environment.

“Thanks to shareholders’ unwavering confidence, we achieved record sales of 333.6 trillion won in 2025,” Jun said. Samsung had also become the first South Korean company to surpass 1,000 trillion won in market capitalization, he added.

The strongest response from the floor came when Samsung laid out its shareholder return plan.

The company said it would pay 9.8 trillion won in regular annual dividends for 2025, plus an additional 1.3 trillion won, with the payment scheduled for April 17. Management also indicated that shareholder returns could be expanded further if earnings improve significantly this year.

That point resonated with investors not only because of the size of the payout, but because 2026 marks the final year of Samsung’s current three-year shareholder return policy. Several shareholders asked what would follow next, prompting Jun to say the company planned to accelerate shareholder returns through a combination of dividend increases and treasury share cancellations.

Still, the meeting was not just a simple victory lap. Some shareholders used the question-and-answer session to press management on whether the earnings recovery can be sustained, how Samsung plans to retain semiconductor talent in the face of global competition, and whether the board’s oversight would be weakened after outside director Yoo Myung-hee stepped down, reducing the board from nine members to eight.

Jun acknowledged that Samsung’s semiconductor compensation had at times become less competitive when performance-linked bonuses fell during a weaker period for the business. But he said that the gap had begun to narrow as product competitiveness recovered and incentive payments increased.

On business conditions, Jun said Samsung’s performance had improved markedly since the second half of last year and that strong artificial intelligence demand could support a favorable memory market, potentially including tighter supply. At the same time, he highlighted US tariff issues and cost burdens in Samsung’s device businesses as key risks.

“We will do our best to deliver solid results by strengthening technology competitiveness and managing risks,” he said.

Samsung also used the meeting to sharpen its message around AI. The company said its Device Solutions division would strengthen competitiveness in high-value products such as HBM4, or high bandwidth memory used in AI chips, while reinforcing its capabilities across memory, foundry, logic and advanced packaging. Its Device eXperience division said it would deepen AI integration across smartphones, televisions, home appliances and other devices.

By Moon Joon-hyun (mjh@heraldcorp.com)