Every Samsung chip division worker will get average bonus of over $339,000

Samsung Electronics recently averted a labor union strike in its semiconductor division by agreeing to distribute KRW 40 trillion (approximately $26.6 billion) in bonuses. The payout will vary depending on each employee’s position, but the average bonus per employee in the division is expected to be around $339,000 this year.

That is a substantial amount of money.

Samsung has agreed to distribute 10.5% of its annual profit as employee bonuses in the form of stock, along with an additional 1.5% in cash bonuses. This is lower than the labor union’s demand of 15% of the company’s profit, but higher than the 10% reportedly offered by rival memory chipmaker SK Hynix to its employees.

This new bonus program will reportedly continue for 10 years, provided certain profit targets are met. That marks a major shift from Samsung’s original proposal, which reportedly involved only a one-time bonus for workers in the semiconductor division.

The labor union plans to vote on the new payout terms in the coming weeks. If a majority of workers vote in favor of the agreement, employees in the chip division are expected to receive their payouts in early 2027.

Employees will reportedly be allowed to sell one-third of their shares immediately, while the remaining shares can be sold gradually over the following two years.

Because of the ongoing artificial intelligence boom, major technology firms are purchasing massive amounts of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips. These memory chips are critical components used in AI accelerators and servers for handling AI workloads.

Since only three companies in the world, Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix, can manufacture high-performance DRAM and HBM chips at scale, supply has remained extremely tight amid surging demand.

As a result, memory chip prices have risen rapidly over the past few years, leading to enormous profits for semiconductor manufacturers.

In the first quarter of 2026, Samsung’s semiconductor and memory chip division reportedly contributed around 94% of the company’s total operating profit. Workers in the chip division therefore demanded that a portion of those profits be shared with employees as performance bonuses, especially as rival chipmakers have begun distributing part of their profits to workers.

Employees also reportedly wanted Samsung to remove the performance bonus cap, which had been set at 50% of an employee’s annual salary.

When Samsung initially refused to meet those demands, the labor union threatened to begin an 18-day strike on May 21. After several rounds of negotiations failed to produce an agreement, tensions escalated further.

However, just one day before the strike was scheduled to begin, Samsung and the labor union reached a compromise, with mediation from government agencies, leading to the strike being called off. If the strike had started, it would have resulted in lower chip production for almost three months, further increasing memory chip shortage globally.