Samsung and SK Hynix pledged increased shareholder returns following record AI chip profits in 2026.
South Korea's two largest chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, are preparing to significantly boost shareholder returns, signaling a new phase of capital distribution after reporting record-breaking quarterly profits driven by the artificial intelligence boom. The announcements, made in separate statements to Reuters on Wednesday, come just days after both companies posted their strongest financial results, fueled by insatiable demand for high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI data centers. Samsung Electronics said it is exploring ways to enhance shareholder returns in a "sustainable manner," while SK Hynix pledged to deliver concrete plans by the end of the year that would "meaningfully expand" capital return.
This commitment to improving shareholder payouts marks a notable strategic pivot for the two technology giants, which have historically prioritized aggressive capital expenditure over direct shareholder remuneration. The timing aligns with a broader push by South Korean regulators to improve corporate governance and address the so-called "Korea Discount" — the persistent undervaluation of Korean equities relative to global peers.
SK Hynix's promise of meaningful capital return expansion is particularly striking given the company's meteoric rise in the AI memory segment. The chipmaker has established a commanding 62% share of the high-bandwidth memory market as of the second quarter of 2025, dwarfing Micron Technology's 21% and Samsung's 17%. SK Hynix's early dominance in supplying advanced HBM chips to Nvidia has been a critical driver of its financial performance.
Samsung, while trailing in HBM market share, has been aggressively closing the gap. The company secured Nvidia's qualification for its 12-layer HBM3E chips in September 2025, positioning it as Nvidia's third HBM vendor, and expects to begin supplying limited volumes to the AI chip leader — a development that could substantially narrow the market share deficit.
Samsung's shareholder return pledges coincide with an ambitious new memory hardware roadmap designed to challenge SK Hynix's dominance. At the center of this vision is zHBM, a new system that vertically stacks high-bandwidth memory directly on top of AI accelerators. The architecture delivers approximately eight times the performance of next-generation HBM5, according to Samsung. Using advanced wafer-bonding technology, zHBM will achieve more than 10 times the memory density of HBM5 while allowing for customized designs tailored to specific customer requirements.
Samsung intends to ramp up production of HBM4 in the second half of 2026, though it has not yet offered a definitive timeline for HBM5 or zHBM technology. The company also introduced zNAND-O, a next-generation NAND solution built on its V-NAND technology, designed to better support real-time, data-intensive AI applications.
Most significant for the storage market is Samsung's introduction of the industry's first V10 BV-NAND architecture. Featuring a new wafer bonding design with more than 400 layers, the V10 BV-NAND increases storage density by nearly 60% compared to the previous generation while improving both read and write speeds. Samsung also displayed a product roadmap featuring next-generation processing-in-memory chips and high-capacity enterprise storage solutions, underscoring its ambition to serve as a comprehensive AI infrastructure provider.
The semiconductor memory market is projected to reach approximately $190 billion in 2026, creating an enormous addressable market for the three dominant players. The competitive intensity was reflected in recent trading activity. On August 3, both SK Hynix and Samsung shares plunged — SK Hynix falling 8.79% and Samsung dropping 8.76% — as investors took profits following dramatic gains. On July 31, SK Hynix had hit its daily upper limit while Samsung surged more than 26%, triggering profit-taking. By August 4, the stocks showed signs of stabilization, with SK Hynix trading at 1.59 million won, up 1.34%, and Samsung edging 0.21% higher to 240,000 won.
Adding to competitive pressures, China's Changxin Memory Technologies has reportedly completed testing of its next-generation LPDDR6 mobile DRAM and is preparing for mass production within the year. The Chinese chipmaker is also reportedly considering construction of a second memory semiconductor production facility, signaling its ambition to challenge the established order.
For SK Hynix, the commitment to expanded capital return represents a potential catalyst for valuation rerating, particularly given its dominant HBM market position and the visibility of its Nvidia supply relationship. Samsung's simultaneous push on both technology and shareholder returns reflects the pressure the company faces to address its underperformance in the HBM market while responding to governance reform pressures. The success of its zHBM architecture and V10 BV-NAND technology could determine whether Samsung can reclaim technology leadership, though the lack of definitive production timelines introduces execution risk. The broader memory market remains highly cyclical despite structural growth from AI, but the sheer scale of the addressable market — approaching half a trillion dollars by 2034 — suggests ample room for multiple winners if execution matches ambition.