(April 23): Tens of thousands of people gathered outside Samsung Electronics Co’s main chip hub to demand employees get a greater share of profits reaped from the AI boom.
Police told local media about 30,000 people attended the rally in South Korea’s southern city of Pyeongtaek, home to Samsung’s sprawling semiconductor complex, while organisers put the number at 39,000. Samsung’s labour union wants 15% of operating profit be handed to chip-division employees. The figure — more than 40 trillion won (US$27 billion or $34 billion) — could mean more than US$400,000 ($510,308) per worker on average.
Korea’s most valuable company is grappling with demands over pay and bonuses as it charts a comeback after falling behind homegrown rival SK Hynix Inc in lucrative high bandwidth memory. Along with Micron Technology Inc, the trio has increasingly shifted production in recent years towards HBM used in Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. Earlier this year, Samsung was first to commercially ship next-generation HBM4 to customers.
“The company has spoken of crisis every year,” Choi Seung-ho, head of Samsung Electronics’ biggest labour union, told the crowd. “But in the midst of those crises, it was not management that sustained Samsung Electronics. It was the employees here — the union members — who made the company the world’s leading semiconductor producer, who manufactured, improved processes, worked through the night, and raised yields.”
The union has threatened an 18-day strike starting May 21. Workers have pointed to rising payouts at SK Hynix, which last year agreed to allocate 10% of its annual operating profit to a performance bonus pool, as evidence they deserve more pay.
For decades, Samsung was able to keep workers’ unions at arm’s length. But in recent years, organised labour groups have gained a firmer foothold, emboldening employees to press their case more publicly.
See also: Kioxia rises to Japan’s top-valued companies on rally in memory chips
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