Tens of thousands of Samsung Electronics employees gathered at the company’s Pyeongtaek campus in South Korea on Thursday, threatening to strike for 18 days next month over financial disputes. The workers’ union is demanding the removal of the performance bonus cap and wants 15% of the operating profit allocated to them, but Samsung remains unyielding, with discussions at a standstill. SK Hynix, a competing chipmaker, is expected to pay average bonuses of approximately $400,000 per employee next year. While Samsung has offered competitive compensation for its memory chip division staff, the union has declined the offer according to local media.
With pressure due to the bonus disparity with SK Hynix, Samsung has long been a sought-after employer in South Korea. Shareholders, however, seem divided, with some opposing the union’s stance. Amidst an AI-induced chip shortage, Samsung, along with SK Hynix and Micron, is redirecting resources to produce high-bandwidth memory chips for AI applications due to higher profit margins. AI data centers now consume 70% of high-end memory chips globally, causing consumer struggles and a surge in DRAM prices since early 2025.
If more than 35,000 Samsung workers strike, it could exacerbate the ongoing memory chip supply issues, impacting even Silicon Valley.