JAKARTA - Samsung Electronics' largest labor union will still hold a major strike next week. Citing Yonhap, Friday, May 15, the decision was made even though management offered unconditional dialogue.
The strike is planned to last 18 days starting next Thursday. If it goes full steam, this action has the potential to disrupt the production of Samsung, the world's largest memory chip maker.
The head of Samsung Electronics' largest labor union, Choi Seung-ho, said his party was only willing to hold a dialogue after June 7, a day after the strike schedule ended.
"We intend to exercise the rights guaranteed by the Constitution," Choi said, as quoted by Yonhap.
The two-day government-mediated negotiations ended without an agreement on Wednesday. Workers and management still differ sharply on performance-based bonuses from the semiconductor business related to artificial intelligence or AI.
The union is demanding a fixed performance bonus of 15 percent of Samsung's semiconductor division's operating profit. They also want the maximum limit on bonus payments to be removed.
Management is offering another scheme. Samsung wants to retain the excess profit incentive system that is in place now. The company is also open to the option of calculating bonuses based on 10 percent of operating profit or economic value added, known as EVA.
EVA is a measure of the economic value generated by a company after taking into account the cost of capital. With that scheme, companies want the bonus structure to be more flexible. The union wants a more certain formula.
Choi previously said that about 41,000 union members were ready to participate in a general strike. The number could rise to more than 50,000 people.
The South Korean government is worried. The strike at Samsung is considered necessary to be avoided because it can pose a major risk to economic growth. South Korea is highly dependent on exports, and semiconductors are one of its supports.
Yonhap said observers estimate that if a full-scale strike occurs, South Korea's economic losses could reach 100 trillion won, or about 66.7 billion US dollars.
The risk comes at a time when Samsung is recording strong performance. In the first quarter, the technology giant posted an operating profit record of 57 trillion won. Market observers estimate that full-year operating profit could reach around 300 trillion won.
South Korea's exports also hit a record 219.9 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2026. The increase was driven by global demand for AI data centers.
Semiconductor exports were the main contributor. Its value jumped 139 percent from the previous year to 78.5 billion US dollars, in line with the acceleration of AI-related server investments.
Therefore, Samsung's strike does not stop as an internal matter of the company. If chip production is disrupted, the impact can spill over into the semiconductor supply chain that supports data centers, electronic devices, and other technology industries.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
