Samsung Offers 600% Memory Bonuses vs 100% Non-Memory, Faces Strike
Posted by self-fix2@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 62 comments
Posted by self-fix2@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 62 comments
fzrox@reddit
Korean workers are getting paid more than American workers in 2026. Wow
NeueBruecke_Detektiv@reddit
The average american worker on the average "american samsung" gets waaaaaaay more than this.
xb9j@reddit
No we don’t, our salaries are slightly higher but we never get bonuses this big
NeueBruecke_Detektiv@reddit
My friend who works at FAANG might be an outlier and warp my perception.
But aren't the RSUs return a lot higher than this?
Cuz the american " samsung equivalent ", given samsung being the literal top Chaebol of the country, are companhies like Apple or Google.
xb9j@reddit
If you hold your RSUs forever and the company goes on a huge stock run, then yeah. But you would be better off getting cash value of RSUs and being able to choose what you invest in or buy other stuff, and a lot of people just sell them right away. RSUs are also given out in $ value, not shares, so you won’t get a lot of shares after a run up. And then take up to 4 years to vest, in which the stock can plummet.
DontchaOpe@reddit
RSUs are granted at vest date and then are released? What do you mean by this.
xb9j@reddit
The amount of shares you get is based off the dollar amount they are giving you, and the share price on the grant day. And then take up to 4 years to vest.
Micron and Samsung are going to be raking in money for the next couple of years, but Micron employees will only get ~$30k in stock per year with RSUs, while Samsung employees will be getting ~$600k in bonuses. The only way the micron employees will see that much is another 20x stock run up, and they will get less than $30k if the stock comes down.
bexamous@reddit
But they got $30k in RSUs last year, and the year before that another $30k... so they'll have generally 4 years of $30k RSUs grants, but stock went up 6x... so that $120k when they vest is worth $720k.
DontchaOpe@reddit
Unless Micron is doing something vastly different from the rest of the industry, that's not how RSUs work.
You get awarded a certain amount of shares based off the vest price and award amount. The vest price and amount of shares stay the same, the price when you receive it can be different. That's the point of RSUs. The incentive is that you work hard to increase the value of your company so your bonus appreciates when you receive it.
xb9j@reddit
I think you are confusing what vest and receive mean. You receive the RSUs when they are granted, and when they vest you can sell them.
Unless micron does something drastic, they aren’t going to bump up the award amount. So micron employees are only going to get a tiny amount of shares granted this year. I’d much rather get a $600k bonus like Samsung employees would than $30k worth of stock that they can’t sell for four years at ATH during what a lot of people think is a bubble.
DontchaOpe@reddit
Yes... But if you've worked for Micron for 5 years and got $10,000 in $MU RSUs every year, the ASP is like $80~ and the price when its granted is $800 now.
Buying a lot of shares 3-5 years ago when the stock price was low has run the price of their RSUs up.
xb9j@reddit
Most people sell their RSU shares right away
If you have five years of $10k in RSUs, you would have less than what one year of bonuses from Samsung will be. Especially for newer hires.
bexamous@reddit
Dude he said FAANG. You get lots of RSUs. Lets say you get $100k/year in RSUs that vest over 4 years. After you've been they're you generally always have $400k or so in RSUs waiting to vest. But to avoid the ramp up they usually give you a signing bonus so you start off with good amount.
Then one day stock goes up 6x now you have $2.4M vesting over next 4 years.
But doesn't go up 6x overnight, if its over a couple years yeah you might sell some early before they 6x.
Plus if you put in $25k/year into ESPP you get another you have 2 year lookback for that too.
xb9j@reddit
I was comparing to what micron RSUs are like to Samsung memory division. Only VPs or super high level managers/fellows get that much RSUs there. They also only do 6 month look back for ESPP.
frogchris@reddit
You realize we get stocks rsu right lol.
Melbuf@reddit
Some do most do mot
frogchris@reddit
Micron and intro don't get rsu? Lol
AkazaAkari@reddit
Can you find out what Kioxia employees get?
hollow_bridge@reddit
I'd vastly prefer shares in samsung than intel...
self-fix2@reddit (OP)
At Hynix and Samsung, yeah, but the average tech worker salary in Korea is around 86 million KRW which is like 60K USD.
ZeeroMX@reddit
With annual bonuses like those, I would work for free all the year.
jigsaw1024@reddit
My math isn't the greatest, but last time I checked: 607% of 0 is still 0.
Also: they only get bonus if certain profit objectives of the company are met. There are many years where the employees get nothing or very little.
Also also: my understanding is that many Korean workers work 60+ hours per week. In a factory type setting, that is pretty grueling.
Kyanche@reddit
OP said they get paid 60k or ~115k in another comment. 600% of those is a VERY nice bonus, something I have NEVER seen an engineer get ever. Not even at a big tech company lol.
DateMasamusubi@reddit
And CoL is lower in Korea vs the US, especially the Bay Area. Per Big Mac Index, a Big Mac in Korea is roughly $3.80.
HourBank2803@reddit
Getting paid more is subjective, I came out of poverty and have more money than all my friends and all i did was work a gas station 3rd shift during covid...
self-fix2@reddit (OP)
This is 607% of the workers' annual salary
taxiscooter@reddit
Seoul and Pyeongtaek are going to clogged with nice cars
self-fix2@reddit (OP)
And suwon
spicesucker@reddit
Holy shit
ML7777777@reddit
This is going to be life changing for so many of the 'regular folks' so I'm happy for them.
gburdell@reddit
It's just going to go to real estate / landlords. See: Bay Area and Seattle
ML7777777@reddit
Nawh, Korea passed laws where if you own multiple homes you get taxed highly. They are cracking down on people using real estate to speculate.
LeDucky@reddit
Is it helping though?
ML7777777@reddit
yeah. They are the only advanced economy to reverse the declining birth rate, that primarily started with the 2008 financial crisis, for three straight years in a row. They are no longer the lowest birth rate in the world and have leapt above their neighbors such as Taiwan, Singapore, China, Thailand, etc. Granted they and everyone else still has more to do to reach replacement.
gburdell@reddit
There is one confounding factor: religion. South Korea is the most Christian East-Asian country, and has been becoming more-so over time.
Tasty-Traffic-680@reddit
It represents a massive transfer of wealth from the US to South Korea and Taiwan while the average American gets nothing for it except higher prices and less job security... Happy for the workers but damn, just makes the current state of affairs for everyone else seem that much more bleak.
ML7777777@reddit
You mean how US companies like Meta and Cisco made record revenue this quarter alone but choose to do layoffs instead?
Tasty-Traffic-680@reddit
For sure. The wealth hoarding has gotten out of control. The system will either break or we'll slide into full blown techno-feudalism with a fractured country run by corporations.
Pirate43@reddit
i think we're there already
max123246@reddit
Let them keep thinking tomorrow is the day of techno-feudalism. Their reality still has some hope
DETRosen@reddit
The country is already run by (lobbyists and lawyers for) corporations
Lincolns_Revenge@reddit
I'm happy for them. Though, I imagine a non-insignificant portion of that 6X increase in the cost of labor will get passed on to the consumer, rather than just being used to retain the workers they have so they can fulfill the insane demand that exists even at today's ludicrous prices.
LavenderDay3544@reddit
Good make the AI circlejerk blow up faster.
Lille7@reddit
Consumers have already paid for it.
Extreme-Arm4609@reddit
Not enough
Percent of profit or no
Exciting_Macaroon_64@reddit
if there is a loss so worker shall pay out of his pocket and work for free?
wh33t@reddit
Yeh? When things are good, people work good, extra reward. When things not good, no bonus. That's my understanding of what a bonus is.
lNTERLINKED@reddit
Yeah it’s called getting fired. They lose 100% of their wages.
CharlesElwoodYeager@reddit
Will workers also have to lose a portion of their wage in case of a loss?
Inevitable_Window308@reddit
Thats happens already, its called layoffs
spazturtle@reddit
No it isn't, if you get laid off you just don't get paid anymore, you don't have to pay money.
gartenriese@reddit
They lose a portion of their wage (100% to be precise), that's what OP was asking. He wasn't asking if employees had to pay money.
self-fix2@reddit (OP)
Earlier reports have said Samsung offered 12% of annual profits.
Union is asking for 15% + removal of bonus cap for future years + more stock options as part of the package
russia_delenda_est@reddit
They haven't received 477k yet. They might receive this much for this year(at the start of next year) if profits estimates are right
liaminwales@reddit
Samsung operates each division as isolated companies that compete, that may be the share of profits if they are isolated legal entities. Then add on Koria is going to take a lot in tax, there going to rein invest it in startups or something\~
txgsync@reddit
I stormed into this thread ready to correct you on how bonus pooling works. Then read the article.
Holy shit you are right.
Kyanche@reddit
Yea holy shit lol. If they were an american company they'd be giving out a 5% bonus or maybe no bonus lol.
ToffeeTangoONE@reddit
600% is wild but tying bonuses to profit sharing means workers take risk too. No reward without the downside. Not sure that is fair.
Hacym@reddit
Workers have always taken the risk. They lose their god damn jobs lol
lelomgn0OO00OOO@reddit
Tf you think layoffs are?
nokeldin42@reddit
I'm not saying employment is risk free, but it is really not the same thing.
The whole debate around risk/reward for employees vs capitalists is just stupid because of a multitude of reasons, most of all because corps are not people. Risk for them doesn't mean shit, while for employees it could literally mean starvation or horrid chronic health issues.
But it is also a very hard thing to objectively quantify. On one hand, your employer really can't take away your existing money due to losses or whatever. For shareholders, that becomes more and more of a concern. On the other hand, like I said, losing employment is a much bigger hit for an employee than losses are for a corp.
Tech gets worse because the line between capitalists and employees is much blurrier. I'm a very low level engineer in my company but more than half my compensation is stock - does that make me a capitalist?
It's just a pointless debate meant to derail the conversation on real issues. Not every risk/reward equation can be put into numbers to quantify and compare. I don't know if I have a point here, but it just irks me to see comments about comparing risks employers take with capital and risks that employees take with layoffs.
bluesatin@reddit
They're a bot, they're not thinking at all.