Samsung Workers Rally at Pyeongtaek, Plan 18-Day Strike as Union Demands Stall Negotiations

Tens of thousands of Samsung Electronics workers held a rally at the company’s Pyeongtaek campus in South Korea on Thursday, signaling they are prepared to walk off the job for an 18-day strike next month, TechCrunch reported. The workers’ union wants Samsung to scrap its performance bonus cap and redirect 15% of its operating profit directly to its workers.

Samsung has not agreed to the union's demands, and talks between Samsung and the union have stalled.

Samsung is fighting the union in court and at the negotiating table. Shareholders gathered directly across the street from the rally. Rival chipmaker SK Hynix is expected to pay average bonuses of roughly $400,000 per person to its 35,000 employees early next year.

Samsung has offered employees in its memory chip division compensation exceeding that of its rivals, but the union has rejected Samsung's offer so far, according to local media reports. The world’s top three memory chip manufacturers are Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. AI data centers consume an estimated 70% of high-end memory chips produced worldwide.

The prices of conventional memory chips, like DRAM, have skyrocketed since early 2025. Samsung Electronics has more than 35,000 workers. TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is scheduled for San Francisco, CA, from October 13-15, 2026.