By Graeme Wearden
Publication Date: 2026-05-27 11:53:00
As the AI boom drives up chipmakers’ profits, employees at Samsung Electronics’ memory chip division are set to receive bonuses averaging around £310,000 each under a groundbreaking profit-sharing agreement.
Fears of a strike at Samsung were allayed on Wednesday after two unions at the world’s largest memory chip maker said 74% of the 62,616 workers who voted had supported the deal.
The deal brokered by the South Korean government will see Samsung set aside 10.5% of its semiconductor division’s operating profits to pay special bonuses to its chip workers. It was intended to end a bitter five-month dispute.
But it could also lead to tensions within Samsung, as employees in other divisions, such as the consumer electronics division, receive comparatively much smaller bonuses.
Reuters reported last week that a memory chip worker with a base salary of 80 million won (US$53,400 or £39,700), for example, is expected to receive a bonus of about 626 million won (US$416,000 or…).