South Korean chip giant Samsung faces an imminent 18-day strike, raising government concerns, unsettling foreign investors, and threatening global supply chains. At the heart of the conflict lies a fundamental question: who should benefit from the profits generated by the artificial intelligence boom?
More than 45,000 employees are threatening to launch the largest strike in the company's history starting May 21. Such action could reduce production of memory chips, crucial components for AI data centers, smartphones, and laptops, as Samsung and its labor union struggle to find a compromise on bonus payments.
Samsung Electronics has reaped massive profits from the global memory shortage and has proposed substantial bonuses for its staff. However, the company intends to award bonuses to its 27,000 memory chip employees that are at least six times larger than those offered to other employees in its logic chip design and manufacturing divisions.
The union argues that the remaining 23,000 employees—who produce AI chips for companies like Tesla and Nvidia and often work in the same buildings as their memory division colleagues—should not be left out. These employees, who work in the foundry business, should not be neglected despite the division's recent struggles, which have resulted in billions of dollars in losses for the company.
A review of hundreds of pages documenting Samsung's internal salary negotiations, along with interviews with more than ten employees—including union leaders and sources familiar with the talks—reveals deep internal divisions. These sources described employee departures and explained how these issues are connected to Samsung's unusual corporate goal: to become the world's only semiconductor company offering a "one-stop shop" solution covering all types of chips and services. This strategy contrasts sharply with more specialized competitors such as Micron or TSMC.
These internal discussions, which highlight friction between company divisions and employee turnover, have not been previously reported. JPMorgan estimates the strike could reduce Samsung's operating profit by 21 trillion to 31 trillion won (approximately $140.8 billion to $207.9 billion), with potential sales losses reaching around 4.5 trillion won.
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