Samsung union votes in favour of Rs 3.25 crore bonus for each chip division employee
Samsung's largest union has approved a massive bonus package for employees in the company's semiconductor division. As per the approval, every employee is eligible for as much as Rs 3.25 crore as bonus pay this year. Here are the details.
On Wednesday, Samsung's largest union announced that it had voted in favour of a massive bonus package for the company’s chip division. This approval averts fears of a strike at the world’s largest memory chipmaker, with each employee reportedly receiving an average bonus of $340,000 (roughly Rs 3.25 crore).
The union said on Wednesday that 73.7 per cent of participating members voted in favour of the agreement, with about 62,600 ballots cast by more than 95 per cent of eligible members in an electronic vote held over six days. The deal needed support from more than half of those who voted.
This agreement comes after Samsung recently became the second Asian company to cross a trillion dollars in market valuation after Taiwan’s TSMC. This growth can be attributed to the AI boom, with Samsung – one of the world’s major memory chipmakers – seeing strong demand.
How much is the bonus?
Before we delve into the bonus amount, keep in mind that this is not for all Samsung employees. Rather, this bonus is specifically for the company’s chip-making division, which is responsible for manufacturing processors and memory chips – think RAM – that go in different electronics – be it smartphones, laptops, cars, and even large AI datacentres that power ChatGPT or Gemini. Samsung has around 78,000 workers in this division.
Estimates regarding the payout vary. As per a Bloomberg report, the average bonus will likely be 513 million won, or about $340,000, based on operating profit for 2026. According to a report from Yonhap News, workers in the memory division could receive around 600 million won each (roughly Rs 3.82 crore).
In March this year, Samsung stated in a filing that its employees earned 158 million won (roughly Rs 1 crore) on average in 2025.
Samsung avoids major strike
The voting happened a week after Samsung reached an agreement with the union over how Samsung’s strong profits should be shared. This helped avoid an 18-day strike that could’ve disrupted global memory supply.
As per reports, Samsung accounts for around 12.5 per cent of gross domestic product and memory chips make up about 35 percent of exports for South Korea.
As part of the agreement, annual bonuses for employees in the semiconductor division would amount to 10.5 per cent of the segment's operating profit and be paid in shares. The employees will also receive an additional 1.5 per cent in cash.
SK Hynix, another major memory chipmaker, had also given bonuses to its employees following the rise in demand last year.