Samsung Electronics employees have approved a landmark profit-sharing agreement. Thanks to the booming memory chip business, employees in that division are expected to receive nearly US$400,000 per person in bonuses.
The agreement was approved on Wednesday (May 27), with 74% of union members voting in favor. This marks the end of a months-long dispute over how to distribute the massive profits generated by the artificial intelligence boom, involving the world's largest memory chip manufacturer.
Under the agreement, 78,000 semiconductor employees will share 10.5% of the company's operating profit. According to a forecast by KB Securities in South Korea, Samsung's operating profit this year is expected to reach 327 trillion won. Based on this estimate, the total bonus pool will exceed 34 trillion won (approximately US$22.6 billion). These bonuses are additional, as the company's existing bonus system—set at 1.5% of operating profit—will continue to operate as usual.
The distribution rules for this chip business bonus pool are as follows: About 40% of the amount will be evenly distributed among all employees, while the remainder will be allocated based on the performance of each business division. Employees in the memory chip division are expected to receive 600 million won (approximately US$400,000) per person. Meanwhile, employees in the loss-making foundry and logic chip design divisions are expected to receive between 150 million won and 200 million won per person.
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