Samsung has been one of the main beneficiaries of the crisis that has triggered the shortage of memory chips due to the high demand for these components for AI. In fact, in recent weeks, the South Korean manufacturer has set records of capitalization due to the strategic situation of the company as one of the main manufacturers of memories.
However, despite the tailwinds that push its stock market price, Samsung faces a serious problem that cannot be resolved by manufacturing more chips: thousands of its workers have said enough and are threatening to stop the factories for 18 days. A scenario that only adds fuel to the fire of RAM problem that shakes the entire technology world. The workers are serious and the conflict it’s starting to get tense really.
The labor conflict is not new, the workers unrest It has been brewing for some time within the South Korean company and has reached a point where, as published Reuters Even Samsung’s senior managers have had to come out publicly to ask for calm.
What are the workers asking for?
Samsung’s majority union in South Korea, which represents some 90,000 Samsung workers, demands two fundamental things: that the company remove the maximum cap on performance bonusesset at 50% of the annual salary, as applied in your competition SK Hynix.
A mid-level employee at Samsung “might earn 90 million won a year and receive 45 million more in bonuses, but at Hynix, he would receive a bonus of 250 or 300 million won,” declared to the Financial Times Park Jun-young, a former employee in Samsung’s semiconductor division who now writes about the industry.
Furthermore, they ask that the 15% of operating profit from the semiconductor division directly to the workers. This percentage would be equivalent to about 45 trillion won (30 billion dollars) distributed in extra bonuses for the staff. As and as highlighted the local environment The Chosun Dailythis figure means distributing among workers a bonus four times higher than the dividend that Samsung distributed in 2025 among its shareholders (11 trillion won).
The company has counteroffered with a reduction of up to 13% of the division’s profit. On the other hand, the union demands a 7% salary increasecompared to the 6.2% that Samsung initially proposed.
93.1% of members who participated in the union vote in early April supported going on strike, reflecting the accumulated discomfort level. The company argues that eliminating the maximum cap on productivity bonuses could harm employees in less profitable divisions, but the union does not accept that argument and maintains its position.
If the machines stop your pocket will notice it
As and how I collected Reuterssome 40,000 affiliated workers gathered at the Pyeongtaek industrial complex, south of Seoul as a measure of pressure on the company’s management. According to the union organization that organized the concentration, only during that protest, the manufacture of chips fell 58% during the next night shift, and memory chip production down 18%. Samsung declined to comment on the impact.
In the current stressed supply chain scenario, even a one-time stoppage can disrupt delivery times on a global scale, something especially sensitive for Samsung when competes directly with SK Hynix for HBM memory orders for artificial intelligence projects.
The chairman of the board of directors, Shin Je-yoon, broke his silence on May 5 with a message posted on the company’s internal bulletin board. According to collect Korean Heraldthe manager recognized that the situation had generated concern among shareholders, clients and public opinion, and warned that an escalation could leave workers and management “without options.”
The vice president and the executive president also issued a joint statement in which they agreed to negotiate with an “open attitude.” According to economic analyst media, a strike could generate more than 10 trillion won (about $6.8 billion) in operating losses, not counting reputational damage.
The union has set the May 21 as start date of the strike, which would extend until June 7 if Samsung does not agree to its conditions. There are 18 days that could directly affect the global memory supply DRAM and NAND Flash.
Image | Wikimedia Commons (Choi Kwang-mo), IntelUnsplash (Liam Briese)
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings