Samsung Electronics’ Semiconductor (DS) division is paying out bonuses of up to roughly 60 million yen, while the smartphone and home appliance division is stuck at far lower levels — prompting labor unions to protest and demand better treatment. On the thread, opinions split between those arguing “it’s only natural to weight payouts toward the division that’s actually earning the money” and those countering “it doesn’t matter which division grinds to a halt, that’s a problem either way.” OECD data showing South Korea’s average wage now exceeds Japan’s was also brought up, spreading shock at the wage gap between the two countries.
Samsung Electronics is raking in massive profits from the AI boom, but cracks are starting to show within the organization. After handing out hefty bonuses to the semiconductor division, labor unions in other divisions are voicing objections. The huge profits are creating inequality that could undermine the “one big family” culture the company grew up on.
Union membership surges in the smartphone/appliance division
On the 21st, the labor union of Samsung’s DX division, which handles smartphones and home appliances, held a rally in front of Samsung’s Seoul headquarters demanding higher bonuses…
Samsung's chip division results aren't because the employees busted their asses — it's just that old-school commodity products suddenly started selling due to market timing. Doesn't seem like the kind of workforce you need to pay huge money to retain.
24Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 21:43:29.03ID:22lsSOdn
>>3 Exactly this. Sure, there are some talented people in there, but roughly the bottom 70% of that workforce can't possibly be better than the top 10% of the phone division.
25Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 21:54:03.21ID:JkDzvsfr
>>3 What are you talking about? Don't you get the problem when operations grind to a halt?
4Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 13:36:23.64ID:tRndHBpn
This thread's not gonna take off lol, since most Japanese people here have assets under 60 million yen (~$400k) anyway
5Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 13:50:57.08ID:YUs1ktAG
"60 million yen, whoa" — I figured that couldn't be the bonus for regular staff or section/department-chief level. But then again, if the union is complaining about it, that must mean even rank-and-file employees are pulling in bonuses around the 10-million-yen mark, which would be insane.
6Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 13:54:47.77ID:qZ3ovJ3M
Yeah, you can't blame them for being fed up. lololol
7Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 14:08:58.30ID:tRndHBpn
This thread's not gonna take off lol, it's too painful for Japanese people. Breakdown of payouts within the DS division: Memory Business Unit (~28,000 people) — up to ~600 million won (~¥60-64 million) max. Shared/common organization (~30,000 people) — average ~430 million won (~¥45 million). Foundry / System LSI division (~20,000 people) — average ~210 million won (~¥22 million).
8Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 14:16:02.75ID:YUs1ktAG
>>7 That's unreal… imagine someone who switched jobs there a year ago, their whole world just changed.
9Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 14:20:26.45ID:P3FbhsTY
>>7 But don't they get fired before 40 anyway?
10Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 14:23:29.20ID:tRndHBpn
No wonder Koreans want to work at Samsung. Meanwhile Japanese people were seriously running "Samsung's going bankrupt!" smear campaigns as recently as 10 years ago lol. This thread's not gonna take off.
12Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 14:32:52.67ID:d5fUEOTN
>>10 > "Japanese people were seriously running Samsung-is-bankrupt smear campaigns as recently as 10 years ago" That was you, wasn't it.
13Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 14:40:07.36ID:kOtYv7RH
>>10 "In 10 more years, Korea collapses! China collapses!" — that's the line, right?
14Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 14:56:36.39ID:P3FbhsTY
>>10 The AI bubble's about to pop anyway. And "Poor Village" (mocking nickname some posters use for South Korea) is finished too.
11Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 14:31:49.44ID:qoLurw5X
Meanwhile, Kioxia — riding a profit boom of its own — handed every single employee a ¥100,000 bonus.
23Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 21:04:22.99ID:7NbIRzH3
>>11 That's insane lol
15Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 14:57:53.47ID:P3FbhsTY
Unions are so strong there that no profit is left for the company — no future for "Poor Village" (mocking nickname for South Korea).
17Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 14:58:53.97ID:mkfgrHZJ
>>12 The phone threads were brutal lol, Galaxy phones got trashed like garbage.
18Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 15:02:25.97ID:2K6ZiS/Y
Even working in a cleanroom in a white coat at a chip fab doesn't mean you've got a PhD — plenty of them are just high school grads, so it's a tricky call.
19Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 15:10:03.74ID:mkfgrHZJ
>>14 Hyundai, Samsung, LG, Huawei, Xiaomi, BYD — in the end, neither Korea nor China collapsed, did they.
27Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 22:05:41.97ID:KYvBSYl+
>>9 I guess it doesn't matter since they're earning that much anyway.
29Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 22:11:51.93ID:KYvBSYl+
After pushing rivals out with pricing strategy, now it's basically a monopoly game. Going forward you can't source memory chips without Samsung and SK Hynix. Sure, it'd be great if Chinese makers stepped up, but their focus is the domestic Chinese market, not the global one. For this whole setup to collapse, regular people would need to be able to print their own memory chips.
30Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 22:12:42.71ID:5EzUd7z/
If you hand out bonuses that large per person, you'd end up paying more than the profit each employee actually generates.
31Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 22:13:50.60ID:12H1LQzE
>>25 Most of them are high-school-grad line workers, or even less. In semiconductors the manufacturing equipment does the work automatically — there's no real craftsmanship involved, unlike the machinery industry.
32Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 22:35:26.02ID:s85zCu8/
If Japan dissolves NHK and wipes out those staffers earning 10 million yen a year, the Japan-Korea wage gap will widen even further. After all, it's those NHK "staff members" — earning over 10 million yen, the very people netizens love to bash — who are propping up Japan's average wage.
33Anonymous2026/08/22(土) 22:37:43.50ID:l3ReB0oz
I wonder what happens if you get hit with a transfer order? Been curious about that since last year.
34Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 00:10:57.42ID:ExKHqbnr
Korean labor unions are seriously unusual — the company can't touch them.
35Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 08:49:21.78ID:Zhat+JFk
Operating profit: 10 trillion yen
36Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 13:29:45.97ID:Ye2sbvom
Well, the gap was way too extreme, but I guess that's what happens when bonuses get paid out based on revenue share.
37Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 11:02:58.99ID:aUyM13FU
Revenue share? What are you even talking about?
38Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:39:54.94ID:6j4cUE5y
Wow, insane lol
39Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 20:00:02.61ID:X2zfv+Wp
It's not just Samsung — the average figures are the bigger problem. According to the OECD, for fiscal year 2024, South Korea's average annual wage was $48,922, while Japan's was $41,509.
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