Workers in Samsung’s lucrative chip division are set to receive massive bonuses this year thanks to the AI boom, while workers in other parts of the company are feeling left out.
As The Next Web reports, the union representing workers in Samsung’s Device eXperience division, which makes the company’s phones, televisions, and home appliances, is planning a rally on July 16 near the company’s headquarters. Between 2,000 and 3,000 workers are expected to participate.
The protest comes a little more than a month after Samsung agreed to a massive bonus deal for its semiconductor workers. Under the deal, Samsung will set aside 10.5% of the chip division’s operating profit for bonuses. The arrangement could run for up to 10 years, depending on whether the chip division meets certain profit targets.
According to The Next Web, some workers in the chip division could receive bonuses of up to 600 million won ($392,000) this year. Meanwhile, workers in Samsung’s consumer tech division are expected to receive bonuses of just about 6 million won ($3,900). That is a roughly 100-to-1 gap inside the same company.
The deal is meant to reflect the chip division’s role in Samsung’s current success.
In the first quarter of 2026, Samsung’s semiconductor division generated 81.7 trillion won ($53.4 billion) in sales. For comparison, the company’s DX division, which includes its mobile, TV, and appliance businesses, generated 52.7 trillion won ($34.5 billion) in sales.
But the gap was much starker when it came to profit. Samsung’s semiconductor division generated 53.7 trillion won ($35.1 billion) in operating profit in the quarter. The DX division generated 3 trillion won ($1.96 billion).
The bonus deal was also hard fought. The union representing Samsung’s chip workers had threatened an 18-day strike before the company reached an agreement. But not everybody was happy.
Non-chip workers even filed an injunction in court to try to stop a company-wide vote on the bonus deal. Bloomberg reports that some upset workers even started showing up to work in black clothes and masks to signal their unhappiness with the deal.
“It’s too bad that the outcome left some people unhappy,” Choi Seung-ho, one of the union leaders who secured the deal, told Bloomberg in an interview.
The whole ordeal has left the company fractured.
Last week, 88% of the union supported Choi in a vote of confidence in his leadership. But Bloomberg notes that the vote came after thousands of workers left the union, with membership dropping below 55,000. That is less than half of Samsung’s domestic workforce, meaning new unions are needed to represent the company’s different factions.
“For now, I have to focus on addressing the fractures,” he said. “As for the people who are upset, I understand. I’d feel the same way.”
For his part, Choi said he wants to help close the rift by pushing for a narrower bonus gap.
Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
