Samsung's $20 billion bonus deal fuels wage demands beyond AI sector

Samsung Electronics' Seocho office in central Seoul [NEWS1] [NEWS ANALYSIS] The AI boom propelled Korean chipmakers to unprecedented profit, ushering in a new bonus system tying payouts to a fixed percentage of annual profits that amount to six times an employee's annual salary or more. Samsung's tentative agreement, following in the footsteps of SK hynix, lays the groundwork for a so-called AI bonus, prompting labor unions at firms not considered major beneficiaries of the AI boom to raise similar demands. The push has spread across industries, from Samsung Biologics — Samsung's contract drug manufacturing affiliate — to information technology companies, telecoms and shipbuilding, with HD Hyundai's shipbuilding units and Hanwha Ocean among those demanding a significant share of operating profit be set aside for employee bonuses. From next year, 10.5 percent of the profit from Samsung's semiconductor division from the previous year — stripping out one-off gains such as currency effects