Samsung labour tensions could deepen the global memory chip supply strain

Tens of thousands of Samsung Electronics workers gathered at the company’s Pyeongtaek campus in South Korea on Thursday, signalling that they are prepared to launch an 18-day strike next month. At the centre of the dispute is a pay disagreement.

The workers’ union is demanding that Samsung remove its performance bonus cap and allocate 15% of the company’s operating profit directly to employees. Samsung has not accepted the proposal, and negotiations between the two sides have stalled. The company is now facing pressure from both ongoing court proceedings and continued union pushback.

According to local media reports, rival chipmaker SK Hynix is expected to pay average bonuses of around $400,000 per employee to its 35,000 staff members early next year. In response, Samsung has reportedly offered compensation in its memory chip division that exceeds what rivals are providing, although the union has rejected the proposal. 

Samsung has long been considered one of South Korea’s most desirable employers, but the widening bonus gap with SK Hynix is now challenging that reputation and increasing internal pressure.

Not all voices at the rally supported the union. Some shareholders also gathered nearby, accusing workers of undermining the company at a sensitive time for the global semiconductor industry.

The timing of the dispute is particularly significant. The ongoing artificial intelligence boom has intensified demand for memory chips, contributing to a global shortage. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron—the world’s three largest memory chip makers—are competing aggressively to meet rising demand from AI-driven data centres. To capitalise on higher margins, these companies have shifted production capacity away from consumer memory products and toward high-bandwidth memory chips for AI systems.

Today, AI data centres are estimated to consume around 70% of the world’s high-end memory chip supply, leaving limited availability for consumer markets. As a result, prices for conventional memory chips such as DRAM have surged since early 2025. If Samsung’s workforce proceeds with an 18-day strike next month, the impact could be felt globally, including in Silicon Valley, potentially worsening the already tight memory chip supply chain.