Samsung Electronics’ labor union on Wednesday pulled back from the brink of an 18-day strike, announcing it had reached a tentative wage deal with management after last-minute government-mediated talks and would put the agreement to a vote by its members. The decision defused immediate concerns about the operation of the world’s largest memory chip maker, a critical supplier in the global artificial intelligence supply chain, whose semiconductor business has posted soaring profits during the AI boom.
Union leader Choi Seung-ho told a televised briefing that the union had agreed not to proceed with the strike, which he had said would start Thursday. He said union members will vote on the tentative agreement from May 22 to May 27. The deal was reached after government mediators stepped in to broker negotiations over how much bonus payouts must increase to reflect the company’s profits.
MSI previously reported that the union had threatened an 18-day strike after wage talks collapsed a day earlier, raising fears of production disruptions at a company whose memory chips power AI data centers worldwide.
“The agreement is the result of our all-out struggle spanning about six months,” Choi said. “We would like to express our apologies to the people for causing concerns due to our internal conflicts.”
The wage dispute at Samsung had escalated over recent months as workers demanded a larger share of the company’s windfall profits from AI-related semiconductor sales. Samsung is the world’s largest maker of memory chips, a cornerstone component in the servers that run AI models, and any prolonged strike would have risked tightening already-strained global supplies.
Samsung Electronics, the flagship subsidiary of the Samsung Group conglomerate, is South Korea’s most valuable company and a bellwether for the country’s export-driven economy. Analysts closely watch labor developments at the firm for signals about broader wage pressure in South Korea’s technology sector.