Samsung averts strike action with AI-funded bonuses for chip workers
Deal with unions, mediated by the South Korean government, ends long-running dispute over bonus cap
Samsung is set to pay employees in its memory chip division a bonus averaging £310,000 each, after a highly contentious profit-sharing agreement was reached.
The agreement was mediated by the South Korean government, according to Reuters.
Memory chip workers with a base salary of 80 million won (roughly $53,400 or £40,000) should receive a bonus of about 626 million won ($416,000 or £310,000) this year, largely paid in stock. These figures were from a union source, reported by Reuters last week.
Samsung's profits have been boosted by the AI boom, but the deal itself is aimed at avoiding a strike with two unions for the South Korean giant.
The unions said that 74% of the 62,616 workers who cast their votes had backed the deal. Samsung will set aside 10.5% of its operating profits at its semiconductor division to pay special bonuses to those who work on memory chips.
There is a hope that the deal will end a long-running dispute at the tech giant. That said, there are new concerns that it may actually create tensions between other divisions, such as those that work in its consumer electronics divisions.
Memory chip wars
Samsung has seen record profits thanks to a global shortage of memory chips amid the boom in AI. Along with SK Hynix, the two companies account for the majority of global memory production.
However, last year, SK Hynix abolished its cap on bonus pay for 10 years, according to reports. Without the cap, it was able to pay bonuses that were considerably larger than those at Samsung. This, reportedly, led many to leave Samsung for SK Hynix, which in turn sparked a surge in union membership, according to Samsung.
Negotiations saw many proposals tabled, such as a 50% to 100% bounce offer, as a one-off payment that would keep the cap on bonuses.
-
'One-size-fits-all' agent governance sets enterprises up to failNews Gartner recommends a graded approach for agents, depending on their level of autonomy
-
The Gentlemen ramp up attacks to become the second most active ransomware groupNews NTT researchers warn that the RaaS group is leveraging SystemBC malware to establish covert tunnelling, evade detection, and support rapid lateral movement across enterprise environments
-
Companies continue to splash out on AI, despite disillusionment with the technologyNews Worldwide spending on AI will hit $2.5 trillion in 2026, according to Gartner, despite IT leaders wallowing in the "Trough of Disillusionment" – and spending will surge again next year.
-
Global IT spending set to hit a 30-year high by end of 2025News Spending on hardware, software and IT services is growing faster than it has since 1996
-
AMD names Anjana Srinivasan as new EMEA channel chiefNews The former Microsoft leader will lead AMD's commercial channel strategy across the region
-
Samsung ramps up AI capabilities with Oxford Semantic Technologies acquisitionNews Oxford Semantic Technologies' knowledge graph tech will be incorporated into Samsung products across the board
-
Samsung UK recruits its first chief customer officer in bid to boost partner engagementNews Deborah Honig will lead Samsung UK’s customer experience activity across its portfolio of business offerings in the region
-
The future workplace calls for a customized monitor approachwhitepaper Design a hardware strategy that supports employees to do their best work
-
How monitors deepen your employee experience and support your distributed workforcewhitepaper Drive business outcomes by empowering, enabling, and inspiring employees with the right monitors wherever they work from
-
Samsung proposes 11 Texas semiconductor plants worth $191 billionNews The school boards of Austin and Taylor are to consider new facilities that could bring 10,000 new jobs to the area
