Driven by high demand for memory chips from the artificial intelligence sector, Samsung recorded a profit increase of more than 750% and its market value reached $1.2 trillion last week. This made Samsung only the second Asian company after TSMC to reach a market value of more than $1 trillion. Due to these high profits, Samsung's labor union held talks with company representatives to demand higher compensation from the employer.
Union members criticized Samsung for giving bonuses three times lower than those given by SK Hynix. Like Samsung, SK Hynix also made huge profits from the sale of memory chips. Although talks between Samsung and the labor union were held with the mediation of the government, the two sides failed to agree on all the requested guidelines.
Samsung's labor union is now threatening to hold an 18-day strike starting May 21 if an agreement is not reached. As many as 50,000 workers may strike, which will severely affect Samsung Electronics' memory production. In a one-day strike last April, Samsung's foundry production fell by 58.1%, with RAM production alone down 18%.
Samsung faces losses of 30 trillion won (~RM 80 billion) if the strike on May 21 goes as planned.
