48,000 union workers will stay on the job after a frantic late-night deal secured a 10.5 percent share of operating profits …
The company agreed to avoid a strike just 90 minutes before the deadline after the Labour Minister intervened in the talks …
Global memory chip supply chains faced a massive risk because Samsung and SK Hynix currently control the high-bandwidth memory market …
Management committed to a wage increase of 6.2 percent to prevent an 18-day walkout that threatened 0.5 percent of Korean GDP …
The union members must still hold a formal vote on the deal before May 27 to finalize the terms of the agreement …
The tech sector dodged a bullet but the fragility of the global AI supply chain is now painfully obvious to everyone …
Samsung Averts a Walkout With Big Bonuses, but Discord Over A.I. Profits Brews
For months, workers at the semiconductor division of Samsung Electronics felt left behind in the global artificial intelligence boom.
The A.I. build out was in full swing, driving up demand for computer memory chips, an industry dominated by Samsung and another South Korean company, SK Hynix. Reflecting this new age of plenty, SK Hynix had in 2025 unveiled new, industry-leading perks: 10 percent of operating profit was set aside for worker bonuses. Caps for those bonuses were also removed.
In recent days, Samsung’s largest labor union made a similar request in its negotiations — that the company commit 15 percent of its operating profit for performance bonuses for the semiconductor division, and to remove a cap that limits individual bonuses.
Disagreements with the company brought the workers to the brink of a strike, which was averted Wednesday night after an intervention by government mediators.