Overview
- The company’s largest union said it will proceed with a walkout starting Thursday for 18 days, claiming Samsung rejected a government mediator’s plan.
- Talks narrowed some gaps but stalled on core terms, with labor pushing to write a 15% profit pool into contracts and scrap a 50% bonus cap as management offered about 9%–10% and a one-time special payout.
- A Suwon court issued a partial injunction that requires essential staffing, bans any move that could spoil wafers or seize facilities, and threatens daily fines of 100 million won for unions and 10 million won for leaders.
- Samsung says 7,087 workers must report to keep key lines safe, while the union disputes what counts as “normal” staffing, and the government is weighing emergency arbitration that can pause strikes for 30 days.
- The strike targets Samsung’s memory-chip business during an AI-fueled shortage, and analysts warn even brief fab disruptions can ruin in-process wafers, take weeks to recover, and tighten DRAM and NAND supply worldwide.