SEOUL – Samsung Electronics chip employees are expected to receive average bonuses worth 509 million won (S$423,000) in 2026, a company official said on May 21, under a tentative deal between management and labour unions to avert a strike.
The tech giant and its union reached the provisional agreement late on May 20 following last-minute government-mediated talks, avoiding a planned 18-day strike that was set to begin the day after.
The dispute unfolded against the backdrop of a global artificial intelligence boom that has turbocharged Samsung’s chip business while lifting South Korea’s economic growth and stock market.
The tentative deal introduces a new bonus pool for employees in the semiconductor division, equivalent to 10.5 per cent of the division’s operating profit, to be paid in stock.
Combined with an additional 1.5 per cent in cash, the deal would allow workers to share up to 12 per cent of operating profit as bonuses.
Samsung semiconductor employees are expected to receive around 509 million won under the new deal, a company official confirmed to AFP news agency on May 21.
The figure is a rough calculation based on the estimated 331 trillion won in operating profit – in line with market consensus reported by Yonhap News Agency – as well as a 12 per cent bonus pool and roughly 78,000 chip employees.
The bonus scheme would last 10 years and is conditional on the chip division posting annual operating profit of more than 200 trillion won between 2026 and 2028, and more than 100 trillion won annually through 2035.
While workers are expected to benefit from the deal, some shareholders voiced opposition.
A group of Samsung Electronics shareholders vowed May 21 to pursue legal action against the tentative agreement.
The Korea Shareholder Action Headquarters staged a rally near the residence of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, arguing that operating profit-linked bonuses had not been approved through a shareholder resolution and therefore lacked legal validity under the current commercial law.
The group said it would “use all legal means available” to block any disbursement of company funds based on the agreement if it is finalised without following the required procedures.
Samsung memory chips are used in products ranging from consumer electronics to computer processors, while its next-generation high-bandwidth memory chips are key components for scaling up AI data centres.
Samsung said in April that its first-quarter operating profit jumped roughly 750 per cent from a year earlier, while its market capitalisation topped US$1 trillion (S$1.28 trillion) for the first time in May.
The prospect of a strike had raised concerns over the potential impact on South Korea’s economy, with semiconductors accounting for around 35 per cent of the country’s exports. AFP
