Tens of thousands of Samsung Electronics workers have rallied against the company in South Korea, signaling they may walk off the job for an 18-day strike. The core issue is money: the union seeks to scrap performance bonus caps and direct 15% of operating profits to workers, while Samsung has yet to agree.

Meanwhile, rival chipmaker SK Hynix is reported to be offering average bonuses of around $400,000 per employee. Despite this, Samsung’s offers to its memory chip division employees have been rejected by the union so far. The dispute puts pressure on Samsung's reputation as South Korea’s most coveted employer.

The timing could not be worse for Samsung, as the AI boom is creating a global chip shortage. With three top manufacturers—Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron—racing to meet demand from AI data centers, consumer businesses are being sidelined. High-bandwidth memory chips for AI use command higher margins, with current prices of conventional DRAM chips skyrocketing since early 2025.

If Samsung's more than 35,000 workers strike next month, the impact could ripple across Silicon Valley and exacerbate ongoing shortages in the tech industry. Shareholders also criticised the workers for potentially undermining the company at a crucial time.