Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s largest company and one of the world’s most important technology manufacturers, is facing growing internal unrest as employees outside its booming semiconductor business push back against a compensation gap that could reach 100-to-1.
Workers in Samsung’s Device Experience (DX) division, which oversees smartphones, televisions and home appliances, have begun wearing black clothing and black masks to work in a coordinated protest against the company’s bonus structure. The demonstrations, organized by a labor union representing DX employees, have spread across multiple Samsung campuses and are expected to expand nationwide in the coming days.
The backlash comes as Samsung’s semiconductor division enjoys a surge in profits fueled by the global artificial-intelligence race. Demand for high-performance memory chips used in AI servers has transformed the company’s chip business into its primary earnings engine, creating a sharp divide between employees tied to the semiconductor boom and those working in slower-growing consumer electronics operations.
Under a recent labor agreement, employees in Samsung’s Device Solutions (DS) division, which includes its memory chip business, could receive compensation packages worth nearly $391,000 if the company achieves its operating-profit target for the year. The payouts include stock-based special management bonuses and performance incentives linked directly to semiconductor earnings.
Employees in the DX division face a very different outcome. With weaker business performance expected in smartphones, televisions and appliances, workers may receive stock awards worth only about $3,900 per person. The disparity has become a flashpoint inside the company, with some employees arguing that workers carrying the Samsung name are being treated as if they belong to entirely different companies.
The protests highlight a challenge increasingly visible across South Korea’s technology sector. As AI-driven demand channels profits into a handful of semiconductor businesses, compensation differences between divisions, and even between companies, are widening rapidly. Similar debates have emerged elsewhere in the industry as workers compare rewards tied to AI-related earnings growth.
The labor union leading the campaign has encouraged employees to adopt the slogan “Same Company, Same Rights” in internal company profiles and delay signing annual salary agreements. Union membership has climbed sharply amid the dispute, with the organization claiming that more than half of Samsung’s DX workforce has now joined.
For Samsung, the conflict underscores an unintended consequence of the AI boom. The same semiconductor profits that have strengthened the company’s position in the global race for AI infrastructure are now exposing internal tensions over how those gains should be shared. As AI reshapes the technology industry, the battle inside Samsung suggests that the winners and losers of the boom may increasingly be found under the same corporate roof.
Union representatives are scheduled to meet with DX human-resources executives next week and are seeking talks with Roh Tae-moon, the head of Samsung’s DX division, as pressure mounts on management to address the growing dissatisfaction.
