As the Samsung Electronics union said it will hold a "struggle resolution rally" at the Pyeongtaek campus in Gyeonggi on the 23rd and launch an 18-day general strike if wage and collective bargaining talks break down, major foreign media are focusing on the potential negative impact on Samsung's semiconductor business. The foreign press appears to view the issue not as a simple wage dispute but as a crisis of external reliability and structural competitiveness for Samsung Electronics' semiconductors.
Management's response at Samsung Electronics is being assessed as defensive. The company is maintaining the stance, as it did during the strike attempt in 2024, that it has managed operations to prevent any production disruption from a semiconductor union strike and will continue talks, while drawing a line at abolishing the cap on performance bonuses and, more recently, moving in parallel to block illegal industrial actions such as occupying production lines.
◇ Foreign press: "The union is a risk to the reliability and competitiveness of Samsung semiconductors"
Combining reports on the 22nd from Reuters, the Financial Times (FT), Bloomberg and other major outlets, the current Samsung Electronics union risk is being viewed more as a factor in structural competitiveness decline than a simple expense issue. If a strike materializes, there is concern that the trust Samsung Electronics has built over decades in the global supply chain will be damaged, and it is likely to act as a negative for the global semiconductor supply chain as well.
The Financial Times (FT), recounting last year's strike phase, assessed that Samsung Electronics is already facing concerns about weakened technological competitiveness in advanced DRAM and artificial intelligence (AI) memory. FT also raised the possibility that Samsung Electronics could lose disgruntled engineers to rival SK hynix, viewing the labor dispute not as a mere expense issue but one that could lead to damage to technical talent and organizational cohesion.
Reuters pointed out that the shock of a strike could spread to doubts about supply stability rather than production volume itself. Noting that Samsung Electronics produces all of its DRAM and about two-thirds of its NAND flash at its Korea plants, it warned that if the union risk materializes, it could ripple across the global semiconductor supply chain.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) presented the Samsung Electronics case as a representative example of "labor unrest," a new threat to the semiconductor industry. WSJ noted that a prolonged strike could burden the operation of legacy production lines with lower levels of automation, predicting mid- to long-term damage to Samsung Electronics given that semiconductor customers look not only at production capacity but also at the predictability of factory operations and delivery reliability.
◇ Same stance from management as two years ago, compensation talks are key
During the first general strike on July 2024, the stance of Samsung Electronics management was consistent. The company repeatedly stressed that there were no production disruptions, and even after the union escalated to an indefinite general strike, it said "there were no production disruptions for the first three days" and that it would "ensure there are no disruptions to production line operations while negotiating in good faith with the union." In the subsequent renegotiation phase, it proposed resuming talks without preconditions, expressing hopes for a swift resolution to the strike, and even after talks broke down, it maintained its existing position that semiconductor production was unaffected.
That stance continued into early 2025, when wage talks were concluded. Even after agreeing with the union on a 5.1% wage increase, Samsung Electronics maintained that last year's strike did not lead to actual production disruptions. In effect, Samsung Electronics management consistently held the view that, throughout the entire course of the 2024 strike, the union's pressure may have had symbolic meaning but was not enough to shake the production floor.
However, this year the company's stance is said to be more specific and defensive. While Samsung Electronics says it has proposed a compensation package to the union that includes a 6.2% wage increase, special compensation and expanded benefits, it is also stating that, given the nature of the semiconductor business, revenue must be allocated in a balanced manner among future investment, shareholder returns and employee compensation. It is maintaining a negative position on the union's demand to abolish the cap on performance bonuses, while also emphasizing that it will continue to talk with employees.
A business community source said, "If the union, as semiconductor industry workers, violates basic common sense and presents 'quick score' demands to management, negotiations will never be possible," and added, "During the semiconductor golden time, before the situation worsens further, there needs to be an opportunity to mediate a compromise between the two sides for national industrial competitiveness."