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SUWON, March 18 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics’ annual general meeting struck an unusually buoyant tone Wednesday as a surging share price and AI-driven optimism lifted investor sentiment — even as a looming union strike cast a shadow over the outlook.

More than 1,000 shareholders gathered at the Suwon Convention Center with little to complain about. The stock has nearly quadrupled from a year ago, while the company is now targeting 200 trillion won ($150 billion) in operating profit as it deepens its role in Nvidia’s AI supply chain.

Samsung is also moving ahead with its largest-ever treasury stock cancellation — 87 million shares worth 16 trillion won ($11 billion) — in the first half of the year, reducing outstanding shares and boosting earnings per share.

Against a backdrop of sustained applause, concerns over transparency and post-AI strategy were largely muted — a stark contrast to last year’s meeting, when shareholders openly criticized management over a stagnant share price stuck in the 50,000-won range.

Momentum has been fueled in part by Nvidia’s endorsement. Earlier this week, CEO Jensen Huang gave Samsung a public shoutout at the GTC developer conference, highlighting its role in producing AI chips based on technology from startup Groq.

Samsung’s 4-nanometer foundry is now “cranking as hard as they can” to manufacture Groq’s LP30 inference chips, slated for release in the second half, according to Huang and the company.

“The mood today is completely different; people are actually saying ‘thank you’ to the board,” said a shareholder in his 50s, surnamed Oh, who reported a nearly 190 percent return on his holdings.

Still, beneath the optimism, unease lingered.

During the Q&A session, shareholders pressed management on the durability of the current upcycle and the company’s position in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), particularly as rival SK hynix maintains a lead in supplying advanced chips to key clients such as Tesla.

Jun Young-hyun, head of the Device Solutions (DS) division, emphasized Samsung’s “one-stop solution” spanning logic, memory, foundry and packaging. But tensions surfaced when a shareholder compared employee incentives to the record-breaking bonuses at SK hynix.

Jun appeared momentarily on the defensive, saying the company is “focused on securing long-term technological dominance,” which would ultimately translate into “sustainable rewards” for both employees and investors.

Some attendees also questioned the authenticity of the meeting’s upbeat tone, describing it as “choreographed.”

“It felt like an effort to shield executives from accountability just as the questions got difficult,” one shareholder said after the session.

The gathering ended with a stark reminder of internal risks.

The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) said 93.1 percent of its members had voted in favor of industrial action, warning of a potential general strike starting in May — which would mark the first in the company’s 57-year history.

The labor tension poses a tangible risk to Samsung’s “all-in-one” AI strategy, particularly as it seeks to close the gap with SK hynix in HBM and Taiwan’s TSMC in advanced foundry.

For now, however, investors appear willing to look past the risks.

Samsung reaffirmed its commitment to shareholder returns, announcing an additional 1.3 trillion won ($980 million) dividend alongside record R&D spending of 6.73 trillion won.

The market response was unequivocal. Shares of Samsung Electronics rose 7.27 percent to close at 207,500 won ($156.82) on Wednesday, shrugging off the strike threat.

Candice Kim 기자 candicekim1121@ajupress.com

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