Samsung chip workers negotiated an average bonus of $340,000

Samsung's union called off its general strike set for May 21 after an agreement was reached with the management just hours before the deadline.

The negotiations appeared to have worked out well for workers in Samsung's chip division, who will reportedly receive an average bonus of $340,000.

According to Bloomberg, under the terms of the agreement, Samsung will distribute over $26.6 billion in bonus payments for this year to chip employees. The chip division has driven the vast majority of Samsung's record profits so far this year, so it's not surprising they were able to extract this out of the management.

More than 78,000 people work in the semiconductor division at Samsung. The bonus levels will vary based on several factors, but the report mentions that employees will on average receive the equivalent of $340,000 as this year's bonus. This would be several times over what workers earned in salary for the whole of last year.

Some employees in the lucrative memory division may receive individual bonus payments for as much as $400,000. Since the exact number of employees in each of the semiconductor divisions is not disclosed, the averages are what we can go on for now.

The bonus isn't being paid out in all cash. Samsung will pay a major portion of the bonus in company stock and the remaining in cash. Employees will only be able to sell a third of the shares they get immediately once the bonus is paid in early 2027. They'll be able to send the remainder in installments over the next two years.

Samsung has agreed to put this bonus program in place for 10 years, as long as the company meets certain operating profit targets.