Labor unrest at Samsung may worsen memory chip supply issues

Tens of thousands of Samsung Electronics workers held a rally astatine the company’s Pyeongtaek field successful South Korea connected Thursday to awesome they are prepared to locomotion disconnected the occupation for an 18-day onslaught adjacent month. The dispute, astatine its core, is implicit money.

The workers’ national wants Samsung to scrap its show bonus headdress and redirect 15% of its operating nett straight to its workers. Samsung has not agreed, and talks person stalled. Meanwhile, the electronics elephantine is warring the national some successful tribunal and astatine the negotiating table.

Rival chipmaker SK Hynix is reportedly expected to wage mean bonuses of astir $400,000 per idiosyncratic to its 35,000 employees aboriginal adjacent year. Samsung has offered employees successful its representation spot part compensation exceeding that of its rivals — an connection the national has truthful acold rejected, according to local media reports.

A Samsung spokesperson did not respond to a petition for remark up of publication. Samsung has agelong been South Korea’s astir coveted employer. The bonus spread with SK Hynix is putting unit connected that advantage.

Not everyone astatine the rally was connected the union’s side. Shareholders besides gathered straight crossed the street, accusing workers of undermining the institution astatine a important juncture.

The timing is atrocious for Samsung. The AI roar is creating a spot shortage, with the world’s apical 3 representation spot manufacturers, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron racing to conscionable request from AI information centers. The companies person redirected resources distant from their user businesses to marque high-bandwidth representation chips for AI uses, arsenic they bid acold higher margins.

AI information centers present devour an estimated 70% of high-end representation chips produced worldwide, leaving consumers to combat implicit what’s left. The prices of accepted representation chips, similar DRAM, person skyrocketed since aboriginal 2025.

If Samsung Electronics’ much than 35,000 workers spell connected onslaught adjacent month, the ripples would beryllium felt each the mode successful Silicon Valley, arsenic it whitethorn compound the ongoing representation spot shortage.