Samsung affiliates chase new bonus terms after chip division bags blockbuster payday

A landmark wage and bonus agreement at Samsung Electronics is sending ripples across the conglomerate, with employees at several affiliates demanding their own compensation structures be overhauled in response.

Samsung Electronics and its union reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday that includes a new performance bonus system, which, if finalized, would pay memory division employees earning around 100 million won ($66,000) a year an additional 550 million won in company shares — on top of the existing excess profit bonus, known as OPI — if the company hits 300 trillion won in operating profit this year. Even employees in loss-making nonmemory divisions, including System LSI and foundry, are expected to receive a minimum of around 160 million won under a shared pool allocation for the semiconductor business, the Device Solution division.

In an employee vote to accept or reject the agreement, which opened Friday, some 49,363 of the 57,291 eligible voters reportedly participated as of Monday morning, a turnout of more than 86 percent. The vote closes at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. 

Industry observers expect it to pass, with semiconductor division union members — who stand to benefit most from the high bonuses — likely to drive approval. A simple majority is required for ratification.

The deal has stung employees at what some insiders wryly call "Samsung's lesser companies" — a self-deprecating term used internally to refer to affiliates such as Samsung Display, Samsung SDI and Samsung Electro-Mechanics, which receive comparatively lower bonuses than Samsung Electronics. All three concluded their own 2026 wage negotiations earlier this year, but the Samsung Electronics agreement has called for fresh calls to reopen those discussions.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics has long been plagued by bonus discontent. Despite posting more than 600 billion won in operating profit in 2023, its OPI payout was capped at just 1 percent of salary, triggering a significant backlash. In 2024 and 2025, the rate remained in the low single digits at 5 to 6 percent. In April, management and labor agreed to canvas employee opinion on switching the OPI calculation method to either 20 percent of economic value added or 10 percent of operating profit.

At Samsung SDI, where the OPI payout rate was zero last year due to the slowdown in EV demand, similar unrest is brewing. Samsung Display's union has also said it plans to discuss an alternative performance bonus scheme with management in the second half of this year.

The agreement has also raised broader concerns about whether demands for operating profit-linked bonuses could spread across corporations nationwide.

"The SK hynix case could still be seen as an exception, but now that Samsung Electronics — which effectively sets the industry standard — has followed suit, it is becoming very difficult for other companies to hold the line," one industry source said. SK hynix set off the bonus frenzy in February, when it finalized an agreement on record-breaking performance bonuses driven by the massive boom in AI-related memory hardware. 

Jeon Hye-sun, a labor attorney at Yeollin Labor Corporation, warned that the legal landscape was also shifting. "Since the expanded scope of industrial action under the 'Yellow Envelope' act came into effect, unions have gained greater room to exert influence over management through the right to strike," she said, referring to landmark labor legislation that dramatically expanded workers' bargaining rights and shields unions from lawsuits by employers seeking compensation for damages resulting from collective action.

"A clear legal ruling is needed on whether demands for operating profit distribution should be recognized as a legitimate subject for collective bargaining and industrial action," she added.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY LEE YOUNG-KEUN. [[email protected]]