Samsung is dealing with a serious internal fight right when its chip business should be celebrating.
According to GSMArena, Samsung’s memory division posted record sales for Q1, helped by the current AI hardware boom. But inside the company’s Device Solutions business, not everyone is happy with how the money is being shared.
Device Solutions is the massive Samsung division that covers three key areas: memory chips, System LSI chip design, and Samsung’s foundry business, which manufactures chips for Samsung and outside customers. The problem? Memory is flying right now, while the LSI and foundry sides are not performing as strongly.
Now Samsung is reportedly facing the biggest strike in its history. Around 48,000 employees are threatening to walk out, with the strike scheduled to begin on Thursday if there is no agreement or government intervention. The planned strike period is 18 days.
Why workers are upset
The main issue is bonuses.
Samsung’s Korean rival SK Hynix is also enjoying big profits from the AI memory chip demand. SK Hynix is the world’s second-largest DRAM maker after Samsung, and it recently removed its cap on bonus payouts.
That difference is causing tension. Last year, SK Hynix employees reportedly received bonuses three times higher than Samsung workers in comparable roles. Samsung currently limits bonus payouts to 50% of an employee’s annual salary.
Samsung’s union wants that cap removed. It is also asking the company to set aside 15% of annual operating profit for employee bonuses.
There is another layer to this. Samsung reportedly wants to reward memory staff more heavily because that side of the business is delivering the strongest results. Its 27,000 memory employees could receive bonuses at least six times larger than colleagues in System LSI and foundry.
The union argues that this creates unfairness inside the same division. It is also worried that unhappy employees may leave Samsung for SK Hynix, especially when the pay gap is already pushing some workers in that direction.
Why Malaysia and SEA should care
This may sound like an internal Korean labour issue, but Samsung is not just another electronics company. It is one of the biggest forces in global semiconductors, and chips touch almost everything we care about here: phones, gaming handhelds, laptops, SSDs, AI servers, and even future console hardware.
For Malaysian consumers, the immediate impact is probably not “your Galaxy phone price goes up tomorrow.” These supply chains are huge and buffered. But if a major strike affects production for longer than planned, it can add pressure to memory supply, especially at a time when AI companies are already buying up huge amounts of DRAM and high-end memory.
That matters for PC builders too. RAM and SSD pricing has already been sensitive to AI-driven demand. If Samsung’s output gets disrupted, even slightly, the market may get more nervous. For gamers planning a new build in Malaysia, this is the kind of industry news worth keeping an eye on before assuming RAM and SSD prices will stay chill.
Government could step in
Samsung has asked for 7,087 employees to stay on duty to keep essential factory functions running and prevent production-line damage. A court granted Samsung a partial injunction on Monday.
The South Korean government also has a possible emergency option. It can order arbitration, which would pause the strike for 30 days and give officials time to mediate between Samsung and the union.
The bigger economic picture is also wild. Samsung reportedly accounts for almost a quarter of South Korea’s exports. An anonymous central bank official said South Korea’s expected 2% growth this year could lose 0.5 percentage points because of the strike, though the impact may remain limited if the action does not go beyond the planned 18 days.
For now, this is a pressure-cooker situation: Samsung’s memory business is making serious money, AI demand is booming, and workers want a bigger share of the upside. If the dispute drags on, SEA tech buyers may eventually feel the ripple through memory prices and device supply.
Source: GSMArena