Negotiations between the National Samsung Electronics Union, which represents workers in the company’s chipmaking division, and management have seemingly broken down over a single issue. According to the Financial Times, the two sides are close to agreeing on an allocation of 13% of operating profit, which works out to be roughly $340,000 USD per employee, as a bonus to the workers. However, company management is only willing to give this as a one-time offer, while the union wants the allocation to be guaranteed annually and included in the agreement that the two sides will sign.
The issue about the bonus was brought to national attention when more than 30,000 Samsung workers took to the streets in late April to demand a bigger slice of the profits that Samsung is making from the AI infrastructure buildout. This demand stemmed from a comparison with SK hynix workers, who were guaranteed bonuses of $477,000 each this year, and almost doubled to $900,000 next year. Furthermore, these bonuses are guaranteed for the next ten years. The massive amount stemmed from the windfall that the memory and storage chip manufacturer is making from the AI infrastructure build-out, with AI data centers and hyperscalers willing to pay a premium just to secure the chips they need.
