Samsung Electronics Union Delays Strike After Tentative Deal on 12% Semiconductor Profit Bonus

The move eased concerns over disruption risks at South Korea’s biggest company.

Samsung Electronics and its union on Wednesday night announced a tentative agreement to settle a months-long standoff over pay, avoiding a planned 18-day walkout by some 48,000 employees.

The planned walkout was expected to dwarf a 2024 strike that drew about 6,000 workers, as anger flares among staff over how the company distributes its massive profits from an artificial intelligence-fuelled boom.

Surging demand for semiconductors has turned South Korea’s largest corporation into a $1 trillion company this year, propelling Seoul’s stock market to rank as the world’s sixth-largest.