40,000 Samsung Workers Protest Pay Ahead of Strike

Tens of thousands of Samsung Electronics workers gathered at the company's sprawling factory complex in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, on Thursday to protest compensation levels, signaling escalating tensions ahead of a planned 18-day strike that could disrupt global AI chip production.

Organizers from the Samsung Electronics Labour Union estimated the crowd at 40,000, marking the largest demonstration in the company's history and the first major walkout by workers this year. The rally, held under black vests in a mass sit-in, focused on demands for better pay amid a booming artificial intelligence sector that has driven Samsung's profits to record highs. If negotiations fail, the union plans to halt operations starting May 21, potentially delaying shipments to clients like Nvidia and pushing up memory chip prices worldwide.

At the heart of the workers' grievances is a perceived pay gap with rival SK Hynix, which has gained an edge in supplying high-bandwidth memory chips for AI applications since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022. Union officials highlighted that a Samsung chip division employee with a base salary of 76 million won would receive about 38 million won in bonuses...