Samsung Electronics' labor unions ratified a wage pact on Wednesday that ties bonuses to the chip unit’s AI‑driven profits. The agreement commits 10.5 percent of the company’s annual operating profit for the next decade to employee payouts and lifts caps on individual bonuses, provided profit targets are met. Nearly 75 % of the 62,000 voters approved the deal, a win for a firm resistant to unionism.

The pact focuses on the semiconductor division, which supplied 94 % of Samsung’s operating profit in Q1 and drives the AI chip shortage. Analysts project operating profit could reach $200 billion this year, seven times last year’s level, opening the door to bonuses of $430,000 for memory‑chip staff. Such payouts would dwarf South Korea’s average monthly wage of $2,800, widening gap between chip engineers and staff.

Workers in the consumer‑electronics union, representing 15,000 staff, boycotted the vote and claim the agreement is discriminatory because their payouts will be a fraction of semiconductor bonuses. Their leader, Park Jay‑yong, vowed legal action to overturn the result. The settlement averts a supply‑chain shock but leaves intra‑company equity still unsettled.