Samsung Workers Walk out in 18-day Strike after Bonus Talks Collapse

Quartz, Al Jazeera, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, and Reuters contributed to this report.

Samsung Electronics is heading into a serious labor fight.

About 48,000 workers – roughly 38% of the company’s South Korean workforce – walked off the job Thursday after wage talks broke down and management rejected a government-brokered bonus proposal the union had already accepted. The strike is set to run 18 days, and it could hit production at one of the world’s most important chipmakers.

The dispute is over pay, bonuses and how Samsung shares the spoils from its booming memory-chip business. Workers want bonuses tied to 15% of operating profit and an end to the current cap that limits payouts to half of annual salary. Samsung says that is too much, especially when it comes to money for units that are not profitable.

The union was visibly frustrated after the talks fell apart. Choi Seung-ho said the workers had accepted a proposal from the National Labor Relations Commission chief, only for Samsung to stall on the last sticking point. He apologized to the public, but made clear the union was not backing down.

Samsung, for its part, called the union’s demands excessive and said agreeing to them would undermine basic management principles. It also said it still wanted to keep talking, even as the strike got underway.

The stakes are bigger than just paychecks. Samsung is the world’s largest memory-chip maker, and any long strike raises the risk of tighter supply in chips already in high demand thanks to the AI boom. That is why the South Korean government is worried. Officials have warned that a prolonged stoppage could hurt exports, slow economic growth and even force wafer scrapping if production lines are interrupted.

A court already stepped in partially, ordering Samsung to keep enough staff on hand to protect equipment and materials. The company says that means more than 7,000 workers must stay on duty. That will limit the damage somewhat, but not erase the tension.

This fight has been building for months. Workers are angry about the gap between Samsung and rival SK Hynix, which agreed last year to set aside 10% of operating profit for bonuses and scrap payout caps. Samsung employees have watched that rivalry widen, and many are not happy about it. Some have already left for SK Hynix, and union membership at Samsung has surged.

The strike could shake more than just Samsung’s balance sheet. The company accounts for a huge slice of South Korea’s economy, and chip production problems could ripple through global supply chains too. Even if the walkout does not shut everything down, investors are clearly nervous about what happens if the pay dispute turns into a longer, costlier standoff.

For now, talks are still alive, just barely. But Samsung is already in the middle of one of its most serious labor tests in years.