Samsung faces largest-ever strike as 45,000 workers prepare walkout

More than 45,000 employees are preparing to launch an 18-day strike at South Korean semiconductor giant Samsung, which could become the largest strike in the company’s history, starting May 21.

The move could disrupt the output of memory chips widely used in AI data centres, smartphones, and laptops, Caliber.Az reports, citing Reuters.

The standoff stems from ongoing disagreements between Samsung and its labour union over bonus payments, raising concerns in government circles, unsettling foreign investors, and posing potential risks to global supply chains, with the dispute ultimately centring on one key issue: who should benefit from the artificial intelligence boom?

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), which has benefited from strong profits driven by a global memory chip shortage, has proposed what it describes as substantial bonuses for staff.

However, the company plans to award at least six times higher bonuses to 27,000 employees in its memory chip division compared with workers in its logic chip design and manufacturing units.

The union, however, argues that the company’s roughly 23,000 other employees—who produce AI-related chips for clients such as Tesla (TSLA.O) and Nvidia (NVDA.O)—should not be excluded from similar rewards.

Many of these workers operate in the same facilities as memory chip staff but have faced heavy financial pressure due to losses in the foundry business.

Reuters reviewed hundreds of pages of internal wage negotiation records and interviewed more than 10 employees, including union representatives and sources familiar with the talks.

Those accounts describe significant internal divisions, staff departures, and tensions linked to Samsung’s broader ambition to become the only semiconductor company offering a “one-stop” solution across multiple chip types and services, unlike more specialized rivals such as Micron (MU.O) or TSMC (2330.TW).

These internal conflicts and workforce exit had not been previously reported.

According to JPMorgan estimates, the strike could reduce Samsung’s operating profit by between 21 trillion won and 31 trillion won ($14.08 billion to $20.79 billion), with potential sales losses of around 4.5 trillion won ($3.004 billion).

Samsung’s Device Solutions Division consists of three main segments—memory, system LSI, and foundry—and the AI-driven chip boom has significantly widened profitability gaps between them.

While Samsung is the world’s leading memory chip producer by sales, it also manufactures smartphones and televisions.

These issues are “partly self-inflicted by the company,” said Namuh Rhee, a Yonsei University professor and head of a Korean corporate governance group, on social media.

He added that Samsung’s decision to integrate different businesses under one structure has created complexity, led to valuation discounts, triggered internal conflicts of interest, and limited growth opportunities, arguing that “Samsung must enable foundries to become self-reliant.”

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov