Samsung distributes bonuses of up to $400,000 to its chip employees due to the AI boom.

The employees of Samsung's chip division made a claim. The company achieved a productivity boom thanks to artificial intelligence and data centers. This led the employees in that sector to demand an increase in their income. Finally, the company agreed to pay significant bonuses.

The agreement reached establishes that semiconductor workers will receive an average bonus of about $340,000. This represents an extraordinary figure and avoids a strike that could have complicated the global memory supply.

Samsung is the largest memory chip manufacturer in the world, and its products are key for everything from cell phones and electric cars to the GPUs that power AI systems. Demand far exceeds supply, and that has driven the company's results.

The gold of memories

Samsung's market capitalization has already surpassed one trillion dollars. Its semiconductor division saw its profits multiply by 48 in the first quarter. It is one of the most profitable years in its history, directly driven by the rise of AI.

Engineers in that area will receive bonuses of up to $400,000. In total, the 28,000 semiconductor employees will share 40% of the amount allocated for bonuses.

Internal tensions and union divisions

The agreement came just in time. There were only 90 minutes left before an indefinite strike was set to begin, which would have affected supply chains at a critical moment for the AI industry. Avoiding that scenario was key for Samsung and for the entire tech sector.

Memory chips have become pure gold thanks to the explosive growth of data centers. Other companies like SK Hynix and Micron also broke the trillion-dollar market capitalization barrier for the same reason.