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Posted on 05/12/2026 9:22:43 AM PDT by aquila48
An 18-day strike could cost Samsung up to $11.7 billion, workers demand a bigger share of the AI windfall
What just happened? Samsung's attempt to head off a potentially disastrous strike by offering chip workers an enormous one-time bonus appears to have fallen flat. The National Samsung Electronics Union is reportedly close to accepting a 13% allocation of the semiconductor division's operating profit, worth around $340,000 per employee, but only if the payout becomes an annual guarantee rather than a one-off sweetener.
It's the latest escalation in a dispute that began with Samsung workers demanding a direct share of the money generated by the AI memory boom.
As reported last month, around 30,000 employees rallied at the company's Pyeongtaek campus, threatening an 18-day strike from May 21 to June 7 if management failed to meet their demands. The union originally called for 15% of operating profit, the removal of Samsung's 50% performance bonus cap, and a 7% wage increase.
Samsung's chip workers are watching SK Hynix employees earn nearly $900,000 in profit sharing. They want the same deal.
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Well, Samsung can always go pick up more chip fabrication workers in a Home Depot parking lot. Right?
https://www.techspot.com/news/112343-samsung-chip-workers-reject-340000-bonus-sk-hynix.html what is the annual bonus for the CEO? what is the industry standard bonus in comparison to Samsung profits? what other points can be made to support this request? Or deny it?
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Samsung’s top division heads received bonuses of about 3.58 billion won and 4.37 billion won in 2024, on total compensation of roughly 5.61 billion won and 6.13 billion won, respectively; those are the closest public figures I found for “CEO-level” pay at Samsung Electronics, since the company’s major business heads are the executives disclosed in its annual report.
What the bonus means
Samsung Electronics reported 2024 operating profit of 32.7 trillion won, and 2025 full-year operating profit of 43.6 trillion won, so executive bonuses are being paid out in the context of very large profits.
That makes a bonus in the low single-digit billions of won look tiny relative to company profit, but still enormous relative to ordinary employee pay.
Industry-standard comparison
For Samsung itself, the disclosed executive pay structure shows bonuses in the multi-billion-won range for top officers, while average employee compensation was 158 million won in 2024.
A common corporate approach in the Samsung ecosystem is performance-based bonus pools tied to a share of operating profit: Samsung Semiconductor workers were reportedly offered 10% to 13% of division operating profit, and Samsung’s OPI system can pay up to 50% of annual salary depending on division performance.
So, if you mean “industry standard” for semiconductor profit-sharing, Samsung’s own internal practice already uses a profit-linked formula rather than a fixed flat bonus.
Arguments for the workers
The strongest support for the workers’ request is that they want a guaranteed annual formula instead of a one-time payout, which makes compensation more predictable and aligns it with recurring profits.
They can also argue that Samsung’s chip division benefited from an AI-driven market rebound, and that rival SK hynix is paying much more generous profit-sharing under a similar performance-based logic.
Another practical argument is retention: reports say hundreds of Samsung employees have moved to SK hynix, which strengthens the case that compensation is part of the talent competition.
Arguments against the request
Management can argue that a permanent 13% to 15% operating-profit share is too rigid, because semiconductor profits are highly cyclical and can collapse quickly.
They can also say Samsung already offered a substantial package, including a 10% plus profit allocation and a 6.2% wage increase, which is not trivial in absolute terms.
A fixed annual guarantee may also create a mismatch in bad years, forcing payouts even when market conditions weaken, which is why some industry experts warned that very large profit-based bonuses can become burdensome.
Best way to frame it
The worker case is strongest if framed as: “Samsung already treats bonuses as performance-linked; we simply want that principle made permanent and competitive with SK hynix”.
The company’s best rebuttal is: “We should preserve flexibility so bonuses track actual conditions and do not become a structural burden”.
In plain terms, this is less about whether workers deserve a share and more about how much of volatile chip profits should be locked into a guaranteed formula.
Is it these AI data centers driving everyone insane and greedy ? LOL
No problem. Just tell them they will then have to share losses via salary reductions when those happen. Better yet, pay the bonus in shares of Samsung and pay it into their retirement account and scale it to the number of years of service.
I’ll be a scab for 75% of that.
South Korea.
Offshoring for cheap labor backfire! LOL
maybe the prices for FIFA World Cup tickets
More manufacturing will go to China. Strike there and you get a bullet in the head.
The workers at Samsung will drive Samsung from among the top in its class to an also-ran. Samsung cannot maintain the necessary innovations to be a top chip producer if so much capital is drained in such an outrageous ANNUAL gift to its employees.
Sounds like those workers have a good handle on supply and demand for labor, and the sheer size of the market Samsung is servicing. All these AI centers, chip shortages everywhere. Samsung is gonna rake it in. And they can only do it if they pay those people what they are apparently worth.
Got em by the short and curlies…
Unions......SMH
It should be a one year bonus IF the AI boom only has one more year in it.
Marxists have known for a long time you don’t have to own a company or federalize it to control the means of production. All you need is a union!
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any company,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say:—
“We never pay any-one Union-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the company that plays it is lost!”
I’ve been a Samsung ‘loyalist’ since the smartphone and high-definition TVs became popular. I’ve bought mostly Samsung high-end phones and ultra-high definition big-screen TVs.
If Samsung does go ahead with that ridiculous bonus to its employees, I will become an iPhone customer for the first time, and an LG high-def TV customer. Big bonuses and high salaries, can only add to the cost of everything that Samsung products.
The greedy unions will destroy Korean companies just like they destroyed American companies... and eventually the workers themselves.
As usual they’re being very shortsighted.
“””Wow! A $340k bonus for every worker and it’s not enough.”””
Is this in Korean Won or US dollars? It makes a big difference which one the bonus is in. In won 340,000 is around $230 us dollars.
US dollars.
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