Samsung Electronics’ memory chip employees are to receive bonuses averaging around £310,000 each under a landmark profit-sharing agreement, averting a potential strike that threatened global chip supplies. The deal, backed by 74% of the 62,616 workers who voted, was mediated by South Korea’s government and ends a five-month dispute.
The agreement sees Samsung allocate 10.5% of its semiconductor division’s operating profits for special bonuses to chip workers. A memory chip employee with a base salary of 80m won ($53,400) could receive a bonus of about 626m won ($416,000), mostly in stock, according to a union source. Bonus levels vary, with Bloomberg estimating an average of 513m won ($340,000) across the division’s 78,000 staff.
The deal may create internal tensions, as workers in other divisions, like consumer electronics, will receive much smaller bonuses. A union representing those workers has asked a court to block the vote, while an investor group threatens to sue over the lack of shareholder approval. Business groups worry other unions could be emboldened by the Samsung deal.
The dispute coincided with a boom in memory chip demand from AI data centres, driving up prices and boosting chipmakers’ profits. SK Hynix and Micron both topped $1tn in market value for the first time. Shares in SK Hynix surged over 9% on Wednesday, while Micron’s stock jumped 19% after UBS tripled its price target. The tech-focused Nasdaq and South Korea’s Kospi hit record highs.
Anna Macdonald of Hargreaves Lansdown noted a “broader shift in the AI trade,” with investors looking beyond graphics processors to memory chips essential for storing and moving AI data. The boom has lifted MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan to a record high.
