Employees in Samsung Electronics’ memory-chip business could receive incentives worth nearly 600 million won (around $399,000) this year, thanks to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related chips, reported The Korea Herald.
However, workers in other struggling semiconductor divisions may receive far lower payouts under the company’s proposed labour agreement.
The possible payouts are linked to a new bonus structure being discussed between Samsung and its workers. While the figures are not guaranteed, they show how sharply rewards could differ across business units depending on performance.
Samsung’s semiconductor division, known as Device Solutions (DS), includes memory chips, foundry manufacturing, System LSI chip design and other common support teams.
Under the proposed plan, bonuses will be closely linked to how well each business unit performs. Since Samsung’s memory-chip business is currently benefiting from booming demand for AI memory products, employees in that segment stand to gain the most.
The total bonus pool is expected to be based on 10.5% of an agreed performance measure, which is widely estimated to be operating profit. If Samsung’s chip business reaches the projected 300 trillion won operating profit this year, the bonus pool could rise to 31.5 trillion won.
The amount would then be divided into two parts. Around 40% of the total would be shared across the entire semiconductor division, regardless of the employee’s team or role.
Based on current estimates, this division-wide share could amount to nearly 160 million won per employee across roughly 78,000 workers.
The remaining 60% of the bonus pool would be distributed based on the performance of individual business units.
This is where memory-chip workers could see a major jump in earnings. Estimates suggest employees in Samsung’s memory business could receive an additional 380 million won because of the unit’s strong profits.
On top of that, workers may also receive benefits through Samsung’s existing Overall Performance Incentive (OPI) scheme. This annual bonus programme can pay up to 50 per cent of an employee’s yearly salary depending on business performance.
For example, an employee earning 100 million won a year could receive up to 50 million won under the OPI programme.
Combined together, the total payout for some memory-chip workers could approach 600 million won.
Samsung’s newly introduced semiconductor special bonus will not be paid in cash. Instead, workers will receive Samsung Electronics shares after tax deductions.
Employees will be allowed to sell one-third of these shares immediately. The rest will remain locked for one and two years in equal portions.
Meanwhile, employees in loss-making units such as foundry and System LSI are expected to receive much smaller payouts. For now, they would mainly benefit from the common division-wide portion, estimated at about 160 million won.
The proposed framework is planned to run for 10 years, but payouts will depend heavily on Samsung’s semiconductor profits, something that can change quickly in the highly cyclical chip industry.