Samsung Electronics DS (Device Solutions) division is facing a potential talent exodus, with nearly half of its employees considering leaving the company within the next two years, according to a new union survey. The crisis is most acute in the Foundry Business (contract chip manufacturing), where eight out of ten respondents expressed intentions to depart — exposing an extreme temperature gap in workforce retention risk across business units.
The Samsung Group Super-Enterprise Union’s Samsung Electronics chapter disclosed the results of its “intention to leave within two years” survey during the DS Division Policy Committee kickoff meeting on July 16. The Foundry Business recorded the highest turnover intention rate at 81.5%, followed by the System LSI Business at 75.4% and the Semiconductor R&D Center at 60.6% — concentrating workforce attrition concerns squarely within non-memory organizations. In stark contrast, the Memory Business registered the lowest rate at 32.7%, while the AI Center came in at 31.6%. Global Manufacturing & Infrastructure (34.3%) and TSP (33.7%) also showed relatively lower figures. The DS division-wide average turnover intention stood at 49.5%.
The sharply divided turnover intentions across business units are widely seen as inextricably linked to the Special Management Performance Bonus system introduced this year. In May, Samsung Electronics labor and management agreed to establish a new bonus scheme that allocates 10.5% of business unit profits to DS division employees. Under this framework, Memory Business employees — who drove operating profit growth — are expected to receive bonuses of up to 600 million won (approximately $405,600) per person, while their counterparts in loss-making non-memory organizations are projected to receive only around 100 million won (approximately $67,600), fueling deep dissatisfaction over the compensation gap.
Choi Seung-ho, head of the Super-Enterprise Union’s Samsung Electronics chapter, stated: “The turnover intention results directly surveyed by the union lay bare the sense of crisis on the ground. The company must take this seriously and swiftly devise effective measures to prevent workforce outflow.”
On the same day, the union officially launched the DS Division Policy Committee. Comprising six members from the Memory Business, six from the Foundry Business, five from the System LSI Business, and eight from shared organizations, the committee is designed to channel frontline opinions directly into bargaining demands through participation by business unit union members. The inaugural meeting addressed the turnover survey results, the 2027 wage and collective bargaining negotiation timeline, and the government’s semiconductor mega project progress.
The union plans to convene the Policy Committee monthly to gather field input and develop a “Mega Project Package Demand” in preparation for the government-driven semiconductor mega project. With Samsung Electronics having committed to participating in a 400 trillion won (approximately $270.4 billion) semiconductor fab construction plan in Gwangju alone, the union intends to incorporate demands covering living conditions at regional worksites, labor conditions, and industrial safety into the 2027 wage and collective bargaining negotiations.
However, the government has taken a cautious stance on whether a nationally strategic mega project can be treated as a subject of labor-management bargaining at a private company. South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor stated: “Corporate investment, factory expansion, and other business management decisions themselves are difficult to view as having a substantive and specific impact on working conditions,” adding that such matters “are not included as subjects of collective bargaining and labor disputes under the revised Trade Union Act (Yellow Envelope Act).”
Chairman Choi emphasized: “With approximately four months remaining before negotiations commence in early December, we will prepare a thorough set of demands reflecting frontline voices, centered on the Policy Committee. The Super-Enterprise Union will lead the 2027 wage and collective bargaining negotiations responsibly.”
The survey underscores how the performance compensation structure between Samsung Electronics’ flagship memory and non-memory businesses has emerged as a pivotal variable in workforce management. As competition for semiconductor talent intensifies industry-wide, concerns are mounting that a realized exodus of key personnel from the foundry and System LSI sectors could deal a significant blow to Samsung Electronics’ non-memory business competitiveness. An industry source noted: “Beyond compensation levels alone, a comprehensive talent retention strategy encompassing the growth outlook for non-memory businesses, organizational culture, and R&D environment is urgently needed.”