Unionised workers at Samsung Electronics have voted to approve a landmark pay agreement, averting an 18-day strike that had threatened to disrupt global chip supplies and rattle South Korea's export-dependent economy. Nearly 74 percent of the 62,616 workers who cast ballots backed the deal, which was reached last week after a bitter five-month dispute and last-minute mediation by South Korea's Labour Minister, just hours before workers were set to walk off the job.

At the heart of the agreement is a new 10-year special performance bonus system for Samsung's semiconductor division, alongside an average 6.2 percent wage hike. Workers in the chip unit will receive a cash bonus equal to 50 percent of their annual salary, plus special bonuses amounting to 10.5 percent of the semiconductor division's operating profit, paid in shares — a third of which can be traded immediately, with the rest vesting over two years. Payouts are tied to ambitious profit milestones: Samsung must achieve more than 200 trillion won (approximately $134 billion) in annual operating profit from 2026 to 2028. This year, the company's profit is expected to reach a record 300 trillion won ($200 billion), driven by frenzied global demand for the memory chips that power AI data centres. Samsung's share price surged 6 percent following the announcement.

The deal was forged under considerable pressure to narrow the gap with rival chipmaker SK Hynix, whose workers received bonuses more than three times larger than Samsung's last year. Some Samsung memory chip workers are now set to receive bonuses of around $416,000 this year. Samsung Electronics alone accounts for roughly 12.5 percent of South Korea's GDP, and the prospect of a strike had raised serious concerns about the country's economic stability.

However, the agreement has deepened divisions within the company. Workers in Samsung's consumer electronics, mobile, and display divisions — where profits have stagnated — will receive far smaller rewards, prompting a minority union representing those employees to seek a court injunction to block the deal. Discontent has also spread to staff at Samsung affiliates such as Samsung Display and Samsung SDI. Some retail shareholders have likewise voiced opposition, arguing the deal lacked their approval and may pursue legal action.

The dispute has sparked a broader debate in South Korea about how AI-driven profits should be shared. A senior presidential official has floated the idea of a "national dividend", suggesting that excess AI-related tax revenue could fund social welfare programmes. The deal is already fuelling wage demands from workers in sectors including biotechnology, automotive, and shipbuilding. Analysts note that large bonuses may help prevent engineering talent from moving abroad as US firms ramp up AI chip investment, but the deep inequalities revealed by the agreement — between chip engineers and other workers, and between Samsung and the broader workforce — are unlikely to be resolved quickly.