{"text":[[{"start":7.34,"text":"Samsung Electronics shares fell on Thursday amid investor disappointment over a lack of detail about returns to shareholders even as the world’s largest memory-chip maker delivered a bullish outlook."}],[{"start":19.78,"text":"The South Korean company said it expected AI-related investment spending to reach a “historic level” in 2027, with AI-driven demand far exceeding industry supply compared with this year."}],[{"start":136.89,"text":"Despite the upbeat outlook, Samsung shares fell as much as 6 per cent in Seoul, bringing the decline over the past month to about 15 per cent."}],[{"start":137.39,"text":"The company only announced a Won30tn ($22bn) dividend plan for the third quarter and said it would give details of share buybacks and dividends in late January."}],[{"start":137.89,"text":"On Wednesday rival chipmaker SK Hynix announced a Won100tn ($75bn) shareholder return package as it reported better than expected quarterly earnings and also gave a bullish outlook on memory demand."}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":138.39,"text":"Samsung investors were disappointed as they had expected details of shareholder returns to be given on Thursday, said Albert Yong, managing partner at Seoul-based Petra Capital Management."}],[{"start":138.89,"text":"Operating profit at Samsung’s chip division surged more than 15-fold year on year to Won106.5tn ($79.7bn) in the July to September quarter, but still fell short of analyst estimates. The company’s net profit rose more than sixfold to Won75.1tn ($56.1bn)."}],[{"start":139.39,"text":"Samsung increased its spending plans for this year by about 60 per cent to Won 84.4tn ($63bn) and said it expected to deliver another year of record earnings in 2027."}],[{"start":139.89,"text":"It signed long-term supply agreements with 10 large customers and was in talks with another 10 for multiyear contracts, with long-term deals set to account for up to 70 per cent of its chip capacity by 2030."}],[{"start":140.39,"text":"Investor uncertainty about the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on AI infrastructure has weighed on share prices in recent months."}],[{"start":132.72,"text":"Samsung and SK Hynix alone account for about half the Kospi index, which fell as much as 3 per cent on Thursday and has shed 13 per cent over the past month."}],[{"start":142.32,"text":"Hynix shares rose 3.4 per cent in afternoon trading but have shed almost 13 per cent in the past month."}],[{"start":148.6,"text":"The 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratios for both companies stood at just 3 to 4 times, which Yong said showed “they are in absolute undervalued territory”."}],[{"start":159.64,"text":"He added: “Investor concern over the sustainability of AI infrastructure spending has eased somewhat globally. However, Samsung’s share price movement suggests that investors have returned to viewing memory chips as a cyclical business.”"}],[{"start":179.64,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793258165_2684.mp3"}