There is a huge disparity in bonuses within Samsung. The memory department has a bonus of 500 million won, while the foundry department only has a bonus of 80 million won.

Samsung Electronics is in the midst of the most severe labor crisis in the company's history. More than 45,000 employees have threatened to launch an 18-day mass strike starting on May 21, which would be the largest work stoppage in Samsung's history. The core of the conflict lies in the inability of labor and management to reach a compromise on the bonus distribution plan.

In recent years,Samsung Electronics has made huge profits during the global memory chip shortage, but the profitability of its three major business units - storage, system LSI and wafer foundry - is seriously uneven.

During negotiations in March this year, Samsung proposed to pay bonuses equivalent to 607% of annual salary to memory chip employees, which even exceeded the level of competitor SK Hynix during the same period. However, the approximately 23,000 employees responsible for the logic chip business can only receive bonuses of 50% to 100% of their annual salary.

Union leader Choi Seung-ho asked during negotiations: "If employees in the storage department receive 500 million won, while the foundry department only receives 80 million won (approximately 364,000 yuan), who among those employees will still be motivated?"

Kim Hyung-ro, the then negotiator and executive director of Samsung, bluntly said: "The logic chip business lost trillions of won. To be honest, if it were not for our company, they might have gone bankrupt or closed down long ago. So why do you ask for performance bonuses? The company still has faith in this business and continues to invest in facilities - and these investments are actually made up with money earned from the storage business."

Samsung responded in a statement that the logic chip business is a business of strategic significance. The company continues to invest based on its long-term vision and will provide employees with "the most generous compensation in the industry" in its latest proposal. However, the union insists that Samsung cancel the bonus cap of 50% of annual salary and use 15% of annual operating profits for employee bonus pools.

The strike threat has sparked widespread concern.JPMorgan Chase estimates that the strike may affect Samsung's operating profit by 21 trillion to 31 trillion won (approximately 95.6 billion to 141.2 billion yuan), and the sales loss may amount to approximately 4.5 trillion won (approximately 20.5 billion yuan).

Samsung's chairman warned in an internal memo at the beginning of the month that in addition to business disruptions, the strike could trigger capital outflows, lower tax revenues and a depreciation of the Korean won.