Samsung Electronics' labor and management have reached an agreement to pay 10.5% of operating profit as a special semiconductor business performance bonus, averting a potential strike. However, internal dissatisfaction over the performance bonus gap between divisions is spreading rapidly. According to industry sources on the 22nd, employees in the Memory Division of Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) Division are expected to receive around 600 million won each under this agreement, based on an annual salary of 100 million won. In contrast, non-memory divisions such as System LSI and Foundry are projected to receive around 200 million won, only a third of the memory division's level.

Mr. A, an executive director in the DS Division's Foundry Business, stated, "Under the agreement, an assistant manager with five years of experience in the Memory Division will likely receive about 600 million won," adding, "For many members, including myself—a director in the Foundry Division with over 20 years of experience—the bonus will stay in the early 200 million won range." He expressed, "I felt a sense of deprivation and anger upon seeing the agreement."

Within the DS Division, many believe that it is unfair to differentially award performance bonuses based solely on simple profit metrics, given the collaborative structure between divisions. The backlash stems from distributing compensation based solely on the performance of specific divisions in an ecosystem where Memory, Foundry, and System LSI are organically linked. Some analysts note that Samsung Electronics' recent opportunity to rebound in the High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market was driven by its comprehensive semiconductor system, which simultaneously possesses memory, foundry, and packaging capabilities.

Nevertheless, as the Foundry division has focused on advanced process investments and accommodating internal volumes, it has faced constraints in expanding external orders. Consequently, internal grievances are growing over the fact that the division was penalized by being labeled a "deficit business."

The labor union is also demanding improvements to the system. Choi Seung-ho, head of the joint bargaining team, pointed out, "The company promised to reserve profits during boom times to offset deficits during downturns, but this was not implemented." He added, "They also promised to reward us if HBM4 achieved results, but that pledge was not kept."

Such conflicts are spreading beyond the DS Division to the entire company. On this day, the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union and the Samsung Electronics Labor Union Together held a press conference, announcing their launch of a campaign to vote down the labor-management agreement. The fairness controversy has also extended to the Device eXperience (DX) Division. While the DS Division grants billion-won special performance bonuses even to its deficit divisions, the DX Division, which recorded an operating profit of 3 trillion won in the first quarter of this year, will only receive company shares worth 6 million won in addition to the existing Overall Performance Incentive (OPI). The OPI is subject to a cap of 50% of the annual salary.