SanDisk and Micron have proposed returning 100% of excess cash to shareholders, prompting questions about whether Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix offer comparatively weaker shareholder returns after announcing plans to allocate more than 50% of free cash flow, or FCF (cash left after investment spending), to investors. Korean industry participants and financial institutions say the comparison is not directly fair because excess cash and FCF are defined differently. They argue FCF-based policies provide greater certainty over projected amounts, implementation standards and transparency. Samsung said 50% of its cumulative FCF from 2024 through 2026 would go to shareholder returns, while SK Hynix plans to use more than 50% of cumulative FCF for shareholder returns from 2025 through 2027.