Samsung wage talks stall, raising chip strike risks

Samsung Electronics said wage talks with its labor union have been suspended after the union declared a halt to negotiations over changes to performance bonuses, raising the risk of a strike.

Samsung offered a 6.2% wage rise and special bonuses that could lift memory staff above the 50% OPI cap.

Samsung also proposed up to 75% bonuses for foundry and System LSI units tied to performance improvements.

The union is seeking a permanent removal of the OPI ceiling and a formula tied to 10% of operating profit, and Samsung said applying that plan to 2025 would cut payouts for foundry and System LSI staff from 47% to 11%.

🔗 Source: Chosun Daily

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A stronger union gains momentum after a rival’s huge bonuses

In the first 2024 strike, the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) covered about 25% of Samsung’s roughly 125,000 South Korean workers. The latest negotiations include a union coalition that speaks for nearly 70% of employees, or more than 90,000 members 1.
Pay comparisons are sharpening the talks. SK hynix (a South Korean memory-chip maker) issued performance bonuses worth 2,964% of base salary 2.
The OPI bonus cap sits at the center of the conflict. Unions want Samsung to remove the upper limit on the excess profit incentive (OPI). Samsung wants to keep the ceiling, while offering a choice of operating profit or economic value added (EVA, a measure of profit after accounting for the cost of capital) to calculate the payout 2.

The incentives fight could spill into Samsung’s chip business

A strike could disrupt Samsung Electronics’ operations, especially semiconductors where many union members work 2.
Samsung said the memory business led recent performance, with record quarterly revenue and operating profit in Q4 2025. It credited demand from AI servers and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) 3.
For FY2025, Samsung tied record results to semiconductors, while smartphones plus TV and appliances faced pressure 3.
Removing the OPI ceiling could shift payouts between divisions. Management has proposed special incentives for non-memory units if performance improves 2.