Last updated: April 26th, 2026 at 13:05 UTC+02:00


Samsung sees major drop in chip production due to worker strike

Show me the money.

Adnan Farooqui

Reading time: 2 minutes

samsung's logo at a trade show

Abhijeet Mishra / SamMobile

General

Samsung logo - Source: Abhijeet Mishra / SamMobile

More than 40,000 workers at Samsung Electronics went on strike earlier this week. The strike has mainly affected production at the company's massive semiconductor complex in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.

A new report out of South Korea reveals that Samsung Electronics saw a significant drop in semiconductor production due to the strike.

Workers want a bigger chunk of Samsung's profits

Thousands of members of the company's workers' union have gone on strike over demands for higher wages. The union said that production of foundry and memory chips fell by 58% and 18% respectively during the overnight shift on Thursday because of the strike.

Workers who joined the protest skipped the overnight shift from 10 pm Thursday to 6 am Friday local time. Samsung's semiconductor factories work 24 hours a day on three shifts. The loss of production even during a single shift would be significant as Samsung scrambles to make enough chips during the current intense period of demand.

Samsung Electronics has had a record quarter recently, bringing in billions of dollars in profit. The union wants the company to remove its performance-based cap. Their demands also include that the company allocate roughly 15% of its operating profit as performance bonus for the unionized workers.

The company continues to be in negotiations with the union but a way forward is yet to be found.