Thousands of Samsung Electronics employees on Thursday protested at a chip manufacturing plant in South Korea. The union estimates that about 40,000 people took part, Euronews states.
Demand for memory chips soared
The protest was organized on a day when Samsung’s main competitor, SK Hynix, reported the best quarterly results in its history – record revenue and operating profit for the first three months of the year. The company attributed this to booming global investment in data centers and AI infrastructure, spurring demand for memory chips.
Samsung, which together with SK Hynix produces about two-thirds of the world’s memory chips, earlier this month forecast its first-quarter operating profit would hit a record 57.2 trillion won (33 billion euros).
Samsung’s union, which represents about 74,000 employees, says the company is not offering adequate remuneration despite its strong financial performance. The union has rejected management’s proposal to pay bonuses partly in restricted stock and is demanding the removal of ceilings set for bonuses.
The strike will cost 578 million euros a day
If negotiations with management reach an impasse, the union is threatening an 18-day strike starting May 21. It estimates it will cost the company more than 1 trillion won (578 million euros) a day.
The war in the Middle East has somewhat clouded the sector’s outlook, disrupting helium supplies and pushing up energy costs. However, SK Hynix CFO Woo Hyun Kim said in a teleconference that the company is closely monitoring the conflict but does not expect a significant impact on production.
