The tentative 2026 wage agreement, reached late Wednesday after marathon negotiations involving the labor ministry, still requires approval through a union vote scheduled to conclude next Wednesday. Its fate remains uncertain as resentment spreads among non-chip employees and even within parts of the union itself.
The deal prevented what would have been an 18-day strike involving tens of thousands of workers, largely from Samsung’s semiconductor operations, at a time when the company is riding a historic AI-driven boom in memory chips. But the structure of the agreement — particularly the scale of payouts for semiconductor employees — has exposed widening tensions between Samsung’s highly profitable chip division and its other businesses.
In an unusually direct message to employees on Thursday, Samsung Electronics Device Solutions chief Jun Young Hyun issued a formal apology and appealed for unity, acknowledging the strain created during months of labor conflict.
“Although there were differences during the negotiations, we confirmed that our shared commitment to the company remained the same,” Jun said in a companywide message. “What matters now is moving beyond the time of conflict and joining forces as one.”
He also described the agreement as “a new beginning” and urged employees to support the ratification process for “the future of both the company and its members.”
Union leadership separately moved Thursday to appease internal complaint and muster support ahead of next week’s ratification vote.
Choi Seung-ho, head of Samsung Electronics’ chapter of the Samsung Group Super Enterprise Labor Union who led the negotiations, described the tentative agreement as “the result that the union and the joint struggle headquarters achieved with their best efforts,” adding that the vote outcome would serve as “a report card” from members on the union leadership.
Choi stressed that the dispute went beyond wages, calling it “a fight where the company’s principles and the union’s principles collided head-on", assuring that the union “continued to demand the values it pursued until the very end.”
The back-to-back appeal reflected growing concern inside Samsung that the deal, while avoiding a disruptive strike, may have deepened internal fractures.
Under the tentative agreement, Samsung will maintain the existing Overall Performance Incentive system capped at 50 percent of annual salary across both the semiconductor-focused Device Solutions (DS) division and the Device Experience (DX) division, which includes smartphones, TVs and home appliances.
But the agreement also introduces a separate special management bonus exclusively for DS employees, funded with 10.5 percent of semiconductor operating profit without an upper ceiling.
With Samsung’s semiconductor business generating record profits from the AI memory boom, the numbers quickly became explosive inside the company.
Samsung reported first-quarter operating profit of 57.2 trillion won ($38 billion), an all-time high, with the DS division alone contributing 53.7 trillion won.
Industry estimates cited during negotiations projected that if the semiconductor division were to generate around 300 trillion won in annual operating profit, the special bonus pool could reach roughly 31.5 trillion won.
Distributed among approximately 78,000 DS employees, some memory division workers could receive payouts approaching 600 million won based on a 100 million won salary.
Meanwhile, employees in the DX division — contributing roughly 3 trillion won in first-quarter operating profit — would remain limited to the existing capped incentive system, with maximum payouts around 50 million won.
The widening gap has triggered backlash among non-chip employees who argue the compensation structure now treats Samsung as two separate companies under one name.
According to industry officials, dissatisfaction inside the DX division has intensified since last month, with some employees leaving the union in protest. Membership in Samsung Electronics’ largest union reportedly fell from around 77,000 members to closer to 70,000 recently.
Some DX union members have also filed for an injunction challenging the legitimacy and procedural fairness of the negotiations, arguing the bargaining process disproportionately reflected the interests of semiconductor workers.
Even Samsung’s attempt to soften the divide by offering DX employees company stock worth about 6 million won has done little to ease frustration, with some workers viewing the measure as symbolic compensation compared with the potentially massive DS payouts.
The internal discord highlights how the AI boom is reshaping traditional corporate compensation structures across Korea’s technology sector.
While semiconductor profits have surged amid explosive demand for high-bandwidth memory and AI infrastructure, other divisions inside Samsung continue to face slower growth, higher costs and tariff pressures.
The imbalance has increasingly complicated how one of the world’s largest conglomerates distributes rewards among businesses operating under vastly different market realities.
Samsung has avoided the immediate economic and reputation damage from a prolonged strike that had alarmed investors, policymakers and global supply-chain partners alike.
Shares hit all-time high on Thursday by gaining more than 8 percent and lifting the main index by the same scale.
Inside the company, the harder test of uniting employees across Samsung’s sprawling businesses amid uneven fruits of AI bonanza persists.
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