Samsung chairman apologizes to customers and public as labor strike looms

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest electronics brand, is facing an impending labor strike. Due to disagreements between the company and its workers over wage hikes and performance bonuses, the labor union has threatened to launch a major strike on May 21, 2026, that could last up to 18 days. In response to the situation, the company’s chairman, Jay Y. Lee, has apologized to customers and the public.

On Saturday, Lee called for unity within the company so it could move forward. Speaking at Gimpo International Airport, he said it was time for everyone to come together and work toward a better future for the company.

Lee also apologized to Samsung’s customers (like AMD and NVIDIA) as well as to the public, for the company’s internal issues creating uncertainty for shareholders and the broader South Korean stock market.

Samsung posted record revenue of approximately $90.1 billion and profit of around $38.5 billion in the first quarter of this year. Most of it was driven by strong sales of memory and storage chips used in AI servers by several major technology firms.

Workers in Samsung’s Device Solutions (DS) division, which manufactures semiconductor chips, have demanded that the company provide 15% of the division’s annual operating profit as a performance bonus. They have also asked Samsung to remove the cap on bonuses.

Samsung has reportedly proposed offering around 13% of its profit as bonuses to workers this year while maintaining the current merit-based bonus structure. The company has also said it cannot remove the performance bonus cap.

There have been multiple meetings between Samsung executives and the labor union, but the two sides have not reached a compromise despite mediation efforts from the government. As a result, the labor union has said it will proceed with the strike.

If the strike goes ahead as planned, Samsung could reportedly suffer billions of dollars in losses. Its customers could also face a memory chip supply shortage, potentially worsening the broader semiconductor supply crunch and driving consumer electronics prices even higher.

The situation could also have a wider economic impact on South Korea, as Samsung reportedly accounts for more than 20% of the country’s GDP.