Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Experience (MX) Division, which oversees the company’s smartphone business, is witnessing a growing number of employees born in the 1990s voluntarily choosing to take retirement packages. With the DX Division\u2014which oversees finished product businesses\u2014posting its first-ever quarterly loss, younger employees are increasingly moving to secure hundreds of millions of won in severance and pursue new career paths.<\/p>\n
According to industry sources on the 17th, employees born in the 1990s at Samsung Electronics’ MX Division have recently opted for voluntary retirement and left the company. These individuals are younger than the typical voluntary retirement candidates, and rather than receiving offers from the company’s People Team (HR), they reportedly took the initiative to inquire about eligibility and terms before proceeding with their departures.<\/p>\n
Samsung Electronics has operated its voluntary retirement program on a rolling basis for several years. Traditionally, the People Team would first approach senior employees at the CL4 level, equivalent to department head. However, in recent months, younger employees who are not typical targets of the program have been proactively reaching out to the company to inquire about terms. This shift is interpreted as a sign that growing uncertainty about business growth prospects is prompting younger staff to conclude that securing substantial compensation and seeking new opportunities is the better option.<\/p>\n
The level of compensation appears to have influenced this trend as well. Voluntary retirement payouts are calculated based on a combination of tenure, performance evaluations, and negotiations with the People Team, meaning individual payouts can vary even among employees with similar seniority, division, and job functions. However, the overall scale of recent packages is understood to have increased. Internal sources indicate that employees at the CL2 level\u2014equivalent to entry-level and assistant manager positions\u2014could receive approximately 400 million won (approximately $283,258) including performance-based stock units (PSUs), while CL4-level employees at the department head rank could receive around 800 million won (approximately $566,516). PSUs are reportedly guaranteed at 200% payout under these terms.<\/p>\n
First-Ever DX Division Loss Triggers Sense of Crisis<\/p>\n
The lowering age of voluntary retirement participants is rooted in the challenging business environment facing Samsung Electronics’ finished product businesses. The DX Division\u2014which encompasses home appliances, visual display, mobile experience, and network businesses\u2014posted revenue of 48 trillion won (approximately $34.0 billion) and an operating loss of 800 billion won (approximately $566.5 million) in the second quarter of this year. This marks the first time the DX Division has recorded a quarterly loss since its establishment.<\/p>\n
The MX Division (including the network business), which has long driven finished product performance on the strength of Galaxy smartphones, recorded revenue of 33.2 trillion won (approximately $23.5 billion) and an operating loss of 700 billion won (approximately $495.7 million) in the second quarter. While flagship sales centered on the Galaxy S26 series remained solid and the Galaxy A series also performed well, rising component costs and broader industry-wide cost pressures weighed on results. With memory prices continuing to climb steadily, there are concerns that near-term momentum for earnings improvement remains elusive. TVs and home appliances also posted losses, compounding profitability pressures across the finished product businesses.<\/p>\n
The following table shows second-quarter results for Samsung Electronics’ key business divisions.<\/p>\n
DivisionRevenueOperating Profit\/LossDX Division (total)48 trillion won-800 billion wonMX & Network Division33.2 trillion won-700 billion won<\/p>\n
Note: The DX Division includes home appliances, visual display, mobile experience, and network businesses.<\/p>\n
Compensation Gap with DS Division Also a Factor<\/p>\n
Resentment over the compensation disparity with the semiconductor (DS) Division is also cited as a reason younger employees are leaving. Following the May labor-management wage agreement that created special performance bonuses exclusively for the DS Division, Roh Tae-moon, head of the DX Division, personally attempted to address employee concerns, stating, “I believe many of you have felt a sense of alienation, deprivation, and disappointment with the company.” However, internal backlash persists, with the DX Division labor union continuing to voice grievances over performance-based compensation discrimination.<\/p>\n
An industry source commented, “In the past, voluntary retirement was largely viewed as a program for senior employees, but recently we’re seeing younger employees also inquiring about terms or proactively expressing their intentions. Given the substantial compensation involved, there’s a growing sentiment that taking the package and exploring new career paths is a viable option.”<\/p>\n
The trend of younger employees opting for voluntary retirement is seen as reflecting the structural difficulties facing Samsung Electronics’ finished product businesses. With cost pressures mounting and Chinese competitors closing in, uncertainty surrounding the set business is growing. Some observers suggest that the outflow of young talent\u2014departing with hundreds of millions of won in compensation\u2014could persist for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Experience (MX) Division, which oversees the company’s smartphone business, is witnessing a growing number of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[63296,638,6942,6434,63295,22234,127,276,55133],"class_list":["post-122080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-samsung-electronics","tag-1990s-born-employees","tag-ds-division","tag-dx-division","tag-galaxy","tag-mx-division","tag-roh-tae-moon","tag-samsung","tag-samsung-electronics","tag-voluntary-retirement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}